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[PRP] Good Intentions [Katrisyn, L'thor and dragon Raith] Goto Page: 1 2 [>] [»|]

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Kaelyndra

Liberal Streaker

PostPosted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 10:41 am


As Ista summers went, it was a rather pleasant day. The fellow members of the large Hold were taking advantage of this in large groups and steadily growing crowds.

Morning was still hanging on by a few strings, but the sun had started to threaten the height of the sky. Her husband had a free day, and so Katrisyn was tasked with market duties. For once, there wasn't a toddler distracting her purchases or pulling her attention in multiple directions at once.

There was quite a commotion in the Market Square even for this time of day. Katrisyn was curious, but she had a mission to complete. Ignoring the hum of talk and inquiry from the crowds to her left, she went to barter with the owner (or at least manager) of a butcher.

A few of the horses that some of the outer-Hold members had brought to carry goods were wild eyed. Only the oldest seemed to remain relaxed. Katrisyn had a few guesses on what the commotion was about, then. None of them made her jump with enthusiasm.

Like the Weyr complained about the Hold, the Hold was bound to complain about the Weyr. The Weyr wasn't the only place that had suffered from food shortage - there was a very good reason the best animals couldn't be sent to the Weyr. There simply wasn't the resources for it.

It was getting to a point where meat was so expensive, but still low quality, that Katrisyn was heavily debating being a vegetarian. The short animals with wool for fur was her best bet as they tended to be too small to pass over to the dragons. How much longer would that last?
PostPosted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 12:25 pm


He'd had Raith drop him off just outside the Hold, even he wasn't daft enough to land a dragon in the middle of a Hold, unless he was Searching or something. His lifemate was, however, circling low over the market and causing some degree of upset. Well that was hardly his problem, people here ought to get used to dragons, and to riders. They were beholden to the Weyr, and one day fairly soon they would count on people like him for protection. Muttering and pointing upward every time they saw a dragon really wasn't necessary. He'd have appreciated it if they were muttering 'look at that beauty' or something, but as it was most were uttering words like brute and beast. Raith was neither, she was the most graceful and beautiful creature alive, they were lucky to get to see her, the blasted hidebound fools.

Shooting poisonous looks all around, L'thor shoved his way through the crowds until he spotted a butcher. Well finally! He had been saving up marks for a long time now, and earning them however he could. He had always been the sort willing to take messages for Holders at a fee, but he'd been doing it more of late, and he and Raith had even delivered packages and such. Now was not the time for pride, now was the time to sharding well see his beloved dragon got a good meal once in a while.

When he finally forced his way right up to the stall, L'thor spotted a pen of live wherries. They weren't Raith' favorite but she did quite like them and they were the only beasts still alive. His lifemate hadn't eaten flesh others had killed since she had taken down her very first beast.

"Four wherries," the rider said once he had managed to gain the attention of the man in charge. "I want them live." How the shell was he going to get them all to an open space where Raith could kill them? Egh, he supposed he'd have to either herd them or drag them one by one. Either way he'd look a fool but he didn't care about that anymore, which was saying something. All he cared about was filling his dragon' stomach, and bringing rich luster back to her hide; if he had to make an idiot of himself to reach that goal, so be it.

TawnyAngel

Predestined Inquisitor


Kaelyndra

Liberal Streaker

PostPosted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 12:42 pm


It was strange how things in life quickly confirmed her suspicions. If Katrisyn hadn't been used to it by her age, she would have found it a bit eerie.

That being said, she still didn't know if she was completely correct over the matter, so there was nothing left to do but ask. "Four?" There was curiousity lining the edges of her neutral tone as she let her eyes wander over the newly butchered instead of the live.

There were a few questions on her lips before she finally shifted her gaze over to the newcommer who had made such a bizarre request. The braid on his riding jacket was not easy to mistake for anything else.

Passing partial marks to the man in question, she took her goods wrapped in some thicker leather so the residual blood wouldn't seep to her clothes. She didn't take much; just enough for some soup and dinner for a couple of nights.

Eventually, her interest run out over her manners and before she went to go, she found herself with words to speak.

"I hear of more riders coming down to the Hold for something other than Searches now. Are the Weyr conditions becoming that bad?" Seemingly casual, sympathetic conversation, but Katrisyn was not entirely interested in that matter.
PostPosted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 12:49 pm


He knew how much a decent wherry was worth, and it didn't take him long to haggle a price, mostly because he didn't much care to get a brilliant deal just now. Just now all he could think of was Raith's hunger, and her desire for fit tender flesh with a good layer of fat. He chose, of course, the fattest four, and therefore the most expensive. All the haggling he bothered to do, in fact, was just enough to bring the price down to what he had in his purse. He had a little money left in his weyr, but most had come with him. He was going to have to run a lot more messages soon, things were hardly going to improve after all.

As the woman spoke for a second time, he turned his piercing grey eyes onto her, but managed a lopsided smile to the question. "The beasts we have at the Weyr right now I wouldn't feed to a watchwher. Many riders are indeed starting to spend their own marks to supplement their dragons' diet. Mine is up there," he gestured, and Raith called a friendly greeting which he had no doubt would terrify more than a few Holders. "She is Raith, and I am L'thor," and he had no idea how he was going to get his purchases out of the Hold, "who might you be?"

TawnyAngel

Predestined Inquisitor


Kaelyndra

Liberal Streaker

PostPosted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 1:19 pm


Katrisyn had half a mind to think that a watchwher had enough brains to be very upset if it wasn't fed properly. It was good that she knew of very little within the hold itself. They were a frightening beast.

How many dragons were there that they needed so much meat? Better still, why was the reigning Queen being allowed to produce clutches? It was slowly becoming clear that the situation might not become better until Thread began to fall and deaths began to restore the balance.

"Katrisyn," she answered. Her eyes went up to the sky to catch the sight of the green. As dragons went, she had little opinion of them. Her only concern was that there were too many eating food and that a population could not sustain this.

There was the option of expansion, but where to? It would happen sooner or later. A few would head out in desperation, one or two would actually make it, and then the mob would begin to follow. That was the hope, in any case.

"Is there anything being done to help the situation?" Perhaps he wouldn't know, but there was only so much they could do in the Hold. They made due with what they had to meet the demands of their protective force. One they did not need now, and hadn't needed for many, many years.

The thread needed to Fall soon lest the bitterness bring an uprising. She did not think any living had seen the Thread fall.
PostPosted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 1:30 pm


L'thor grimaced, too worn down by the situation to bother bantering with or outright lying to this Holder. "I haven't the faintest idea. I would like to assume so, but I am 'only' a green rider, I'm not kept up to date with the Weyrwoman's plans." Would his words today cause problems for her? Maybe, maybe this Katrisyn had the ear of the Lord Holder, or an influential Harper. So what. It wasn't as if people liked them to begin with, and maybe a little more dislike aimed at her would finally get Helirra to act. He could only hope it did, he couldn't afford to buy his own meat forever.

"Perhaps I should just march into her weyr and ask her what she plans to do about our troubles," L'thor mused aloud as he continued to wrestle with the problem of getting his wherries out to Raith. "I could tie her to a chair and tickle her until she relented and begged for a chance to tell me her brilliant plan... I think I need a cart, and a large crate." And more marks... that he didn't have. He knew someone who did, but he was loathe to ask his roommate for money, mostly because he knew it would be given without a second thought. A crate and a cart, though, would be useful in the future, to himself, V'kain, and others who wanted to buy food for their dragons. They could hire them out and make the money back, no problem. It seemed like the best option really, and that meant he needed his little messengers...

Oh, they were busy: they'd found some disgusting off cuts and bits of gut to munch on. L'thor wrinkled his nose in disgust and instructed the troublesome quartet to come to him as soon as they were finished... but to hop to the sea first and wash off their meal, please. Ew.

TawnyAngel

Predestined Inquisitor


Kaelyndra

Liberal Streaker

PostPosted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 1:44 pm


Katrisyn should have guessed that one. 'Only' a green rider had the same implications as say, who she was. Only a citizen of Ista Hold. Neither of them were sleeping with their leader's brilliant ideas under their pillow. It was a pity that lots of ideas meant so much disagreement, or she would have suggestion a huge Hold hearing. It would be nothing but a disaster, however.

His outloud musings caused her to c**k and eyebrow as she pulled the carrying bag farther over her shoulder. "Is the Weyrwoman that easy to approach? You should look into it." The tickling bit sounded a bit like a joke, but she assumed L'thor had enough wit to catch the meaning.

If she was that easy to get council with, Katrisyn was left wondering why no one had done just that before. The Hold would probably side with a green-rider who tried to approach the solution to an evergrowing problem. Then again, people were an unpredictable bunch and it could also end in disaster.

There was one other question. "How are you getting that many wherries back to the Weyr?" This time, her voice held a slightly amused quality.
PostPosted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 1:56 pm


L'thor wrinkled his nose again and gave a rapid shake of his head. "Oh no! Last thing I want to do is have a detailed look at Helirra. Not my type at all... Wouldn't see me in any case either I expect, though if things get any worse I might try my luck." There was the matter of Lyveana after all, maybe greens would get a fair hearing from now on... Or not. He was sure many people in a position to speak with the Weyrwoman had asked her what she was about by now, but nothing had trickled down. Was that because all of those who had asked were tight lipped, or because there was no good news to report? For once, he hoped that stuck-up bronze riders who felt too important to tell anyone 'lesser' anything at all were to blame; he hated this whole stinking situation and couldn't stand to think that nothing was being done.

"I don't need to get them all the way to the Weyr, luckily," he went on, "I just need a large crate, and a handcart to get them out of the Hold... Can you suggest where I might find such things?" As he spoke, four slightly damp flitts appeared in the air almost at the same moment. There was a brief tussle over who would get a shoulder to sit on, but only a couple of moments later the dark blue and the rusty brown were perched while the lighter blue and larger brown continued to flutter around in the air over his head. None of them got to stay for long though; L'thor thought firmly about V'kain, and then V'kain giving Rust some marks to bring back to him.

He would have liked to send please, thank you, and to have given an explanation but flitt brains just weren't that big and he hadn't brought a scrap of hide to write on. Still, between the four of them the flitts should be able to pass on an intelligible message. They seemed confident at any rate, for the little fair cheeped in unison before vanishing to carry out their mission. "River, Dusk, Rust, and Dancer," L'thor told Katrisyn with a grin, "I can point out which is which when they come back if you care anything for the silly little creatures."

TawnyAngel

Predestined Inquisitor


Kaelyndra

Liberal Streaker

PostPosted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 2:13 pm


He had bought the sheep before the carts? On one hand, it seemed rather stupid, but on the other, how could he know that he would be getting any sort of good meat for his dragon at all.

His excuse for not seeing the Weyrwoman was as good as an excuse for her not seeing her own set of leaders yet. No one wanted to try their hand until things got worse. Katrisyn didn't think worse was an option.

She took the beginning steps away from the meat stand and merely assumed that L'thor would follow to the sound of her voice. When she'd reached a more open area, she raised and arm and gave him a few solid directions.

"I haven't found the need for a handcart in a long while, but if I remember, there was an old woodcrafter who lived in the middle of the east Hold. He refused to set up here by the grand hall; i can't tell you the reason." She had her guesses, but she wasn't going to let the speculation override the fact.

"You might try the Butcher himself to buy the right type of cage. I can't say I have that knowledge, either." Wherries were a touch smelly and dumb; she'd never been the most fond and was thankful she'd never had to take care of massive amounts of them.

It seemed that she'd completely ignored the bit about the flits, and with good reason. She had absolutely no desire to know frivolous names she needn't know again.

"I need to return home before the meat goes bad and catches flies in the heat," she told him after she'd finished with her instructions. "You should talk to your Weyrwoman, L'thor. You'll sleep better at night." Or so the saying went.

She passed him a smile with a clenched jaw and took the steps to go. Perhaps she would muster the guts to get council with her own leaders, but she would have to admit, in some ways, that she was afraid. She knew nothing about the Weyr, or even much of the agreements between the Hold and Weyr. She only knew that there was bitterness and that no solution had presented itself successfully.
PostPosted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 2:21 pm


Humm, he probably should have asked the butcher about a cadge rather than just signaling him to keep the purchased wherries until he came back, the man could have been loading them up for him. Ah well, he'd have to go back there in any case. "Maybe I will," he shrugged, "or maybe I'll find out the worst and not sleep at all. They say ignorance is bliss, I'm not sure whether that is true or false in this situation..." Something had been nagging him about this woman for a while now, something about her was oddly familiar. She was pale, that was uncommon enough on the island, and that combined with the sense he recognized her...

"Do you know anyone at the Weyr, by the way?" he asked before she could set off. "You look somewhat familiar, I thought you might have a relative there." Certainly she couldn't be the cousin or daughter or anything else of anyone he knew well but the feeling still remained. Maybe a rider from another wing, or a crafter who worked at the Weyr shared blood with Katrisyn. It was worth asking her at any rate, you never knew when connections could come in handy.

TawnyAngel

Predestined Inquisitor


Kaelyndra

Liberal Streaker

PostPosted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 2:31 pm


There it was again: You can't possibly understand the way other people feel about a situation. Sometimes, she wondered why she even bothered. It was easy to shrug off, although her shoulders didn't move an inch from their position. For her, ignorance could never be bliss. A thousands screams and accusations would perhaps be better than turning a blind eye and walking away.

It was ironic, then, that the topic of her sister was having its edges pulled on. "I . . ." Do? Did? What was the best word for that. Luckily, her muffled beginnings of speech were silenced by L'thor's more sure voice.

"My sister is, or should be, in the Weyr, yes," she admitted. The 'should be' was practically dripping with acid. It was hard to tell if this was merely overprotective sister, or true dislike.

"She was Searched a few Turns back by a rider named R'than." It had not been her first experience with a dragon rider, and it would certainly not be the last. Katrisyn, however, had found him grating and hard to get along with. That, however, could have been the overprotective sister. She could not fix a girl with bad habits when someone took them away. In theory, she should have been thanking them.

"I believe he rode a brown," she added for good measure. It was hard to tell the difference between browns and bronzes at times. She had not been around dragons long enough to catch the subtle differences.
PostPosted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 2:39 pm


Ah, right, so she was one of the throng of candidates, that explained why he hadn't been able to even guess at who the mystery relative might be. "I know R'than," he said with a nod and the faintest hint of a smirk, "his brown - Garith - has caught Raith once or twice in the past." It always amused him, waking up with straight men. R'than, stiff though he was, handled it as well as most did. That one was so very into being the perfect image of an upright rider, and good upright riders didn't complain about who their dragons caught, or were caught by. He himself had never been able to summon such self restraint; if he ever woke up with a bronze rider again he most certainly wouldn't take it with good grace. Then again, Raith would be rather unhappy about the situation as well; the pair of them were utterly agreed about the largest males.

"Once Raith's eaten and you've taken your meat home I could take you for a trip to visit your sister if you like," L'thor offered, his mood improving along with Raith's as the sleek dragon anticipated her meal.

A happy cheep cut in then, announcing the return of the flitts, or two of them anyway. As Rust handed him the purse he had brought back, the rider received an image of Dusk asleep on his bed, and River playing ball with V'kain. Well, fair enough, two flitts were easier to handle in the hustle and bustle of the marketplace anyway, plus it meant that everyone got a shoulder to sit on.

TawnyAngel

Predestined Inquisitor


Kaelyndra

Liberal Streaker

PostPosted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 2:50 pm


The smirk caused her to pause. Not that she'd been taking any steps, but it still stopped her mind and motivation to go further.

She did not like that smirk. She had nothing to say for R'than, but L'thor caused her blood to curdle. Perhaps not that bad. The answer came quickly enough. There was a long moment of narrowed eyebrows over the statement.

She knew enough about green's having flown over some unsuspecting Hold parties to understand what happened in the Weyr when a dragon was caught. She did not approve, and she would have felt sorry for L'thor, but he didn't seem to need or want it. Instead, she let it slide away again. There was no sense in making accusations without proof.

The next line she hadn't expected. "I have a family waiting," she pointed out as she changed shoulders. "I can't leave my husband to care for the girl just to run off and see my sister." A sister she wasn't sure she wanted to see.

"No, not today. It would be irresponsible, and something I would need to plan for."
PostPosted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 2:56 pm


L'thor grinned and made a sweeping gesture with one arm that nearly unseated Dancer; the brown gave an indignant squeak and held on tighter. "Well, please do plan then! I'm grateful to you for directing me to what I need, the least I can do is favor for you in return. It isn't as though getting from here to the Weyr is a long and difficult trip for me, you'd not be inconveniencing or anything like that."

It would be nice to have her and her sister grateful to him, he liked it when people liked him. Of course, it would be even better if Katrisyn had a brother - an attractive one aged over eighteen or so turns for preference - but more friends was good if he couldn't get bedfellows. Besides, hadn't he been talking to Veyes about helping out candidates just a few days ago? He didn't want to do any hard work for any great number of them unless somebody paid him, but easy things like this were no trouble at all. Speaking - or thinking - of which, he should take his young friend to visit his mother and siblings back on that farm of theirs sometime... Ooh, they'd promised Raith a herdbeast, hadn't they? Better and better!

TawnyAngel

Predestined Inquisitor


Kaelyndra

Liberal Streaker

PostPosted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 3:06 pm


He was all show, wasn't he? Katrisyn passed him the bob of her head in return and the faintest of smiles. Strange man.

"Then I shall see you again sometime, L'thor." It was days like these that she exceedingly despised the small creatures that could go between. From the sounds of it, this was not a situation she could get away from.

It would be a waste of a trip. It wasn't as though she was pessimistic; it was that she knew her sister. Going would leave both of them frustrated and the situation wouldn't change.

Katrisyn wasn't sure she wanted it to be known that they were sisters, either. It had been bad enough in the Hold. 'Is this your sister?' 'Yes, she won't bother your son/daughter agian, ma'am.' Lovely.

Why couldn't Uuni have grown up responsible?

"Take care of yourself, and may your days be long and Threadless." She left no more reason for retort as she took the first of the many long strides back to where 'home' was.
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