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 Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 7:07 am
It was only a few marks past the rising of the sun for the day but Crom Hold was nary quiet nor still. It's inhabitants were already hard at work with daily tasks and chores; women and younger children working above the vast tunnels that snaked their way deep into the earth while below them, fathers and elder sons worked away at the stone surroundings with steel tools.
Among them was a young teenager banging away with a few of his comrades working at the same area. They had recently found a rather rich vein of firestone not too far in and the group had been assigned to dig it out under the supervision of the Watchwher and his handlers. Of course, even with the elder man watching them, goofing off is expected when teenagers are grouped together.
"Hey! Hey Go!" One of the guys waved to a teenager picking at a small indent. Glancing up, Govind was quick to catch the water canteen tossed at him. With a smile he took a long swig before passing it onward. Another sighed and leaned back, grunting as he cracked his spine to relieve the stiffness. "Shards of a bronze egg...I think I pulled a muscle..." Wiping away the dust that painted his pale skin brown, Govind grinned and smacked his friend on the back of his helmet. "Oh, come on. It's not that bad." He laughed at the glare sent at him as a third piped up a different conversation before mock blows were sent flying at one another. Better than having them chewed out later for horseplay.
"Hey hey guys!" Didja hear the news?" Some sent Ryn confused glances before he continued. "I heard that second Queen at Ista...I heard that her eggs are gettin' ready to pop soon."
"Hah! What? Ya hopin' to get Searched?" A snort of laughter. "As if the dragonfolk would be interested in guys like us."
"HEY! It's worth it to hope, right?!"
"Eh, whatever."
Heated comments were spat back and forth as they continued to work. During this, Govind remained silent with his own opinions kept in the dark. Searched? Heh...as amazing as that sounded, it was a chance in the dark. Besides that, they were needed here. Who was gunna work in the mines? And, well...He had younger siblings to help tend to.
Ah well. It's not like it was ever gunna happen. The closest they ever got to a dragon was when they came to pick up the firestone.
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Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 7:32 am
Go to Crom Hold, L'thor, see if you can find anyone L'thor, oh and no compensation for spending your free time standing around looking at daft boys and girls rather than doing what you'd like to be doing. The green rider grumbled to himself as he and his mount hurtled towards the ground. He was all for there being lots of good Candidates around, but he didn't see why it was suddenly his job to locate them. Perhaps it was felt that he enjoyed the job or something. Ha. No. No he didn't think the givers of orders were so charitable. He probably got lumped with the extra duties because he didn't suck up to bronze riders enough.
Less than a dragonlenght from the ground, Raith leveled her flight out and they shot along like an arrow from a bow, straight and true. Only when they were within sight of the mines did she begin to slow and then, close to the entrance, she touched down. Unbuckling himself from the harness, L'thor leapt to the ground and strode over to somebody who looked vaguely in charge. "Greenrider L'thor, here on a Search," he said succinctly. "When the workers next get a break, can you see they're sent up here? Only ones aged twelve to twenty one turns need come to see me."
He hoped there weren't many; Raith could only take three riders comfortably, and the riding straps didn't allow for more than that anyway. He didn't want to have to make more than one trip, but duty was duty. He had no choice in the matter, so he just wanted it over and done with as quickly as possible.
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Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 7:59 am
The miner overseeing the air pumps and the dumping of leftover soil nodded and bowed to the Rider. "Yes sir. If you would wait here for a few moments. The bell for shift-change is just about to go off." With that, he walked off as the loud rings sounded across the entrance area; soon, the stomping of work boots and the chattering of males voices drifted out of the dark entrances.
The overseer stood infront of the main entranceway towards the housing area of the hold (much to the distress of the tired miners) and waved at them to quiet down. "Alright, you lot! I want the youngins' to step away from the rest. Once that is done, the rest of ya can head on home." The murmurs of the younger generation cut the silence as they laided eyes on the single green rider and his dragon. That usually ment one thing: Search. Eagered to take part, the young kids and the teenagers seperated from the adults and stood infront of the dragoness; the majority stared in awe while a few backed off a little, fearful of being so close to the giant being.
Govind stood in the middle of the group, helmet in hand and unsure of whether or not to stare or back away. Scratching at an itch on his arm, he ducked his head and waited as the overseer motioned for the Rider to see if any interested him or his dragoness.
To him...it felt like awaiting sentencing...it was that unnerving.
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Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 2:23 pm
Well, that was something at any rate; he'd been afraid of being kept waiting for several candle marks. Moving past the crowd of youngsters, L'thor came up beside his dragon and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Well then RaithLove, anything worth a sneeze here?"
The green rumbled deep in her chest, running her eyes slowly over the small crowed. "A couple," she said after a moment, "but one of them could do with staying here a turn or two more I feel. As for the other one, he's over there," Raith pulled his attention, "scratching himself."
L'thor sighed internally. "Well, at least it's his arm not his arse I suppose. He'll need a wash before I'm letting him ride you though love, or letting him ride with me come to that." At least there was only one to bring back. Nodding decisively, L'thor strode forward, moving past hopeful looking young men until he stood before Scratchy. "You lad," he said, looking the pale-skinned young man up and down thoughtfully, "want to be a rider?" He looked healthy under the muck; tall lad, considerably taller than L'thor himself. Must be forever stooping down in a mine; his shoulders would be hunched and bent before he was thirty if he didn't get out. Hopefully there was no damage to his lungs already from working conditions down there; a rider needed a good set of lungs.
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Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 11:12 pm
"Ah?" A mental smack to himself for getting distracted; he had not even noticed the Rider until he was right on top of him. Swallowing, Govind looked down and smiled nervously at the Rider while murmurs from the crowd gathered cut the awkward silence. Several of the youngest hung their heads in disappoint while a few older teenagers shot Govind looks of jealousy that promised hurt to befall him later on.
Ignoring them as his friends and the elder men attempted to herd everyone away, Govind nodded softly at the question as, again, he rubbed at the old bandage covering his arm. "A rider? I...well..." Breaking his gaze from the warrior, the miner found sudden interest in a rock by his boot as his mind reeled with shock.
Him? Chosen? To stand on the Hatching Grounds? Most of his logical, mature mind was screaming "IMPOSSIBLE!" while that one tiny bit of childhood hope was trying to get him to accept.
Conflicted? Yes, very much so.
"To be honest, Sir Rider....I do...and yet, at the same time, I don't know if I can." Even as he spoke, Govind couldn't bring himself to stare eye-to-eye with the Rider and his dragon. "It's an invitation of a lifetime and I am deeply honored...but...You must understand." He sighed and finally looked up towards where the homes were built into the Hold. "At the same time, i'm still needed here as well. Both in the mines and helping my mother back home...So, at the moment, I can't say yes and I can't say no either."
Finally, he turned and stared at L'thor straight in the eye. "If I may, I would...like a little time to think about this."
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Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 7:07 am
Deciding that he didn't like the youth very much at all, but resisting the urge to curl his lip at the young man's dithering, L'thor gave a slight shrug. "Very well. Most candidates are asked to pack up and come along right away, given that riders do have better things to do than fly back and forth waiting for a yey or nay. Nevertheless, you may have a little time. Go and get cleaned up and consider the matter. Raith and I shall wait here."
Oh, how deeply the world needed one more miner. If he failed to Impress he could come back to his nice, monotonous little life in any case. This was no fun. He missed the startled joy in Nehren's eyes when he had asked him to come to the Weyr, the stunned disbelief and then burning fires of passion in Veyes'... Being told to go Searching definitely sucked the joy out of it, but he would have been underwhelmed but Scratchy's ambivalence in any case. As if Hold life could be compared to the chance to be a rider!... Still though, he would do his duty, and he would be utterly civil, impeccably polite. Well, other than that slight dig he'd had already in any case.
"Oh, yes, what's your name then lad?" Whatever it was, he would privately think of him as Scratchy until such a time as his opinion of the grimy young man improved. If it improved. The mines and his poor dear old mother needed him. Well la-di-da and golden shells for him. Did he not see that it was his duty to come, to try? Ah. Perhaps he was one of the fools that thought the Thread wasn't coming back. Deadglow.
"You are very uncharitable today," Raith commented, clearly amused. "Best keep being quite nice though! You're remembering how you treated... oh, him, the nice boy with the strange ideas about washing. Yes, anyway, you still feel bad about how you acted towards him at first, so do be nice."
"Veyes," L'thor supplied with an internal sigh, "I know. I will be. My comment about us not having all day was fair enough though. We're supposed to be riding a sweep later on, and I don't want to have to miss that over Scratchy the dedicated miner boy. Such arrogance to think he makes such a huge difference to the work done here. He could contend with me in an ego contest, but the sad thing is that he doesn't even recognize what a self important wherry-head he's being. Oh chuck-chuck I can't leave my mummy. How very tiresome."
The expression on L'thor's face had not shifted at all from its calm, slightly expectant set all through his little aside to Raith. No need to go snapping overmuch until he had a better measure of this boy. If he decided he was alright after all, then he hadn't harmed the boy's first impression of him. If he decided he really was a useless annoying deadglow however, it was never too late to break out he vitriol.
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Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 10:50 pm
Biting his lip at the attitude, Govind simply bowed to his senior. "Yes sir, thank you." Straightening, Govind reached down to grab his beg at his feet before turning away from the two towards his home pausing only to stop and answer the second question. "My name? It's Govind, sir rider. Now then, if I may take my leave..."
But to his surprise, the teenager did not get far out of the mine's boundries before two small bodies tackled him withsmall cries of "BIG BRUDDTHA!" Two pairs of eyes of the same shade of dark blue stared up at him as they continued to cling, even when Govind squatted down to their level. "Mayin, Tiken!" The elder brother placed both hands on the heads of his twin brothers, forcing them to look him straight in the eye as they attempted to stare at the dragon and her rider. "What are you doing out here? Ive told you a thousand times: It's dangerous near the mines, even by the entrance!" He scowled for a moment when he realized one face was missing from the usual threesome. "And where is Melody? She's suppose to be keeping an eye on you two!"
The quivering lips and tearing eyes tugged at his heart strings, forcing the older brother to pull them into a hug despite how dirty he was from working all night. "I'm not mad, I just want to know what's up, okay?"
Two nods. "Alright, can you tell me then?" Tiken spoke up as Govind got to his feet. "Big sister is sleeping, and we heard the shift-bell ring. She wouldn't wake up and kept shoving us away from the bed so we came out by ourselves!"
"And mother?"
"Momma went to work already....she won't be back until after sundown."
"Alright then. I'll take you guys home; plus I have to wash up anyways before I meet back with someone." A side glance was cast at the rider before the three walked away.
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Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 7:48 am
As the boy walked away and the rest of the crowd dispersed, L'thor allowed himself that sneer. He'd had a lucky escape with the brats at least; if there was one thing he disliked as much a bronze riders it was small noisy children. Children in general actually, no matter ho 'adorable' or 'precocious' their relatives might proclaim them to be. He just hoped that if a female blue rider ever ended up with child after a flight with him and Raith she'd have the decency to take a quick hop between.
"So now what?" he asked rhetorically of his dragon, his irritation rising, threatening to become anger. "Perhaps I should have brought something to do. How could I have predicted the child would have reservations? He's tall but can't be more than fourteen or fifteen turns; I really don't see how he could be so very vital to anyone. He and those little brats were well fed, so mummy-dearest is hardly starving, relying on whatever wage they pay to little boys down the mine to keep her and her spawn clothed and housed." He was not in the mood for this. He was never in the mood for just hanging around and doing nothing. "I've half a mind to take off without him," L'thor went on, "one less candidate is hardly any more important than one less miner, especially a candidate with reservations... Why aren't you saying anything Raith?"
His dragon looked down at him with peaceful blue eyes and rumbled contentedly. "I didn't want to interrupt you while you were in full flow, Mine... You could have the flitters bring you something that needs mending?"
L'thor grumbled to himself and shook his head. "For once, I have none... Perhaps we should go and do some shopping while we wait, if this Hold has anything decent to offer that is. Egh. I've half a mind to tell the flitts to being me a skin of wine, but I don't want to turn up on duty tipsy later. I think I'll just sit here and seethe for now... What sort of parent calls their daughter Melody in any case? If she's an aspiring Harper, I think I might just die laughing." Shivering, L'thor snuggled deep into his flight jacket and moved closer to Raith. "What are we even doing here?" he demanded of nobody in particular. "This sharding wasteland looks to Telgar, not us! We shouldn't even be taking him to Ista even if he decides he wants to come! Sharding deadglows and their sharding orders!" It was so cold! How could anyone live here? "Scratchy is going to bake at Ista," he predicated with some satisfaction.
Raith gave a mental shrug. "We're here because we were told to be. If anyone gets angry with us, you can have the pleasure of dropping a bronze rider in hot water."
"Hot water! Yes please!"
"Mmm, well quite! Have a bath when we get back Mine," Raith suggested, settling herself down more comfortably to wait.
L'thor sighed and sat down, leaning back against her warm solid body. "I'll want one after riding with Scratchy," he groused, wrapping his arms around himself and tugging his flight goggles off his head.
"I'm sure he's not really that unclean," Raith laughed, "you'd be dirty too if you worked down a mine, Mine."
L'thor had to chuckle at that. Mine mine. "Yes, well," he made himself as comfortable as he could on the cold ground and lent his head back against Raith, "we shall see."
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Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 8:17 pm
It was not even two hours before Govind was seen walking back towards where the Green and her Rider were lounging before. Now spotless with the washing back at his home and dressed in a thick tunic and leggings, he smiled and waved with a spare hand while the other was occupied with holding his bag of belongings.
"Sir sir!" He jogged the last few feet and dropped his bag on the dirt-covered ground before bowing for a third or fourth time that day already. "I...I apologize for how I was acting earlier." He straightened and fixed his tunic a bit before continuing. "And I apologize for making you wait so long. I was talking this over with my family and, with a great deal of pressure, I decided to come with you."
Stepping a bit closer, Govind held out his bandaged hand. "And....I don't think we got off on the right foot either. So, I was wondering if...perhaps...maybe you'd be willing to give me another chance, Sir? To redeem myself?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 9:56 am
It had taken a lot of pressuring to make him come, had it? Well fine then. Nevermind it; one the boy was dropped at the Weyr he need never bother about him again. Unless he Impressed and then ended up on the same wing as himself and Raith. Egh. L'thor pushed himself back to his feet, stretching to rid himself of the stiffness brought on by sitting on cold stone for two candle marks or so. He would be glad to return to the heat and humidity of Ista; he just wasn't made for nasty chilly places like this. His family had always had the sense to trade along the coast rather than venturing further north.
"Well good," L'thor said after a few moments, clasping the boy's hand politely, "we do hate to see potential go to waste at Ista... Oh, yes, I'm from Ista not Telgar but I imagine the location of the Weyr won't trouble you too much." He'd adjust to the heat in the end... once he got himself some more sensible clothes at any rate.
Yawing massively, Raith stirred herself from her doze and got slowly to her feet. "See, at least he is showing willing Mine. He might turn out to be a good rider one he puts this place behind him."
"Mmmh? And watch-whers might fly against the Thread, I suppose? Well, I suppose him turning out well is a little more likely than that." Rolling his shoulder to get rid of a lingering ache, and noting with a grimace that the chill air here was making his ribs twinge, L'thor sighed wearily and patted his dragon's shoulder. They'd be home soon. "Well, anyway, consider a second chance given," he said with a shrug, "I suppose not everyone is raring to leave home and go to a Weyr." Some people, after all, were idiots.
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Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2009 3:34 pm
"Thank you, Sir- wait....Ista?" Govind blinked several times as the thought processed. "That's a bit of a surprise, Sir. Most people from the South don't venture up here to the north." He rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish smile as the teenager glanced down at the bag by his feet. He was going to need some new breeches and tunics when they arrived...good thing Govind had a decent amount of marks on him for the exchange.
A moments' glance at the Green dragon before Govind nodded in agreement at the rider's statement. "Aye. But I guess everyone has to try something different once in their lives, no?" He sighed quietly; not that it was his place to complain about moving.
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Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2009 3:50 pm
L'thor gave a faint smile and stepped easily up onto Raith's forearm, and from there he swung himself up to his usual perch and secured himself. "Absolutely," he agreed aloud, "life would be terribly dull if one never did anything different." He doubted the boy would Impress, not unless he found a lot more enthusiasm at any rate. He almost suggested that if his family had needed to force him, the abnormally tall boy should just stay here. Hatchlings cared no more for the half-hearted type than L'thor did.
"I am sure he will find his wings, Mine" Raith said placidly. "Reservations about leaving his Weyr... his Hold that is are natural. Once he comes to Ista, he will be glad of this chance. I doubt there are many that could not find it in themselves to throw themselves into candidacy with all their hearts once they have seen the eggs."
Well. Perhaps she was right. L'thor extended a hand down to the tall miner. "Step onto her arm and just pull yourself up behind me," he instructed; if the boy rode before him he wouldn't be able to see a sharding thing. "I'll secure you and your bag once you're up," he added reassuringly. He still didn't like him, no matter what Raith might have to say but he never allowed personal feelings to get in the way of duty. Once they arrived... Well, that would be another matter entirely.
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