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Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 1:47 pm
He had never been so glad to have use of both his hands; spraining his wrist had made him realize how much he loved pampering Raith, and now that it was better he was making the most of it. Already fully washed, the sleek green was being treated to a meticulous all over oiling, and loving every moment of it.
Eys spinning brilliant blue behind two sets of lids, Raith crooned and her lifemate worked oil into her back. She had been cared for over the last couple of sevendays of course, but not by L'thor, and not as much as she was used to. Now she was getting even more attention than ever; her face neck and forelegs already shone lightly, the hide made lustrous by her rider's attention. While he was at it, Raith had suggested he take care of himself as well. So it was that the slim man had stripped down to a rather short pair of shorts and was occasionally pausing to rub oil into his own skin. He paid special attention to the fine scars on his chest and thighs; most of them were hardly more than faint pale lines now, perhaps partially thanks to how much time he spent pampering himself.
He never spent very long at one time on himself, however, not while Raith wanted caring for as well; if he got too distracted from her, the green didn't hesitate to bring his attention back onto her with a pointed prod or clearing of the throat. She wanted him to look after himself, of course, but not at the expense of her enjoyment! He could do himself after he'd done her.
"Might want to rephrase that," the green smirked, "with less double entendre!"
At that though L'thor laughed aloud and scooped up a handful of oil to splash at her. "You beast!" he exclaimed. "You've got a dirtier mind than I have!" And that was anything something.
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Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 3:05 pm
Sharath was demanding more oil, again. It hadn't been three hours since her last rub down and Amelia wondered if the gold was just being fussy or if the queen had hit another growth spurt. Likely the latter, considering the way all of the dragonets seemed to be exponentially growing in size. The gold however, seemed to be about on par with her metallic clutchmates and the rider was slowly coming to understand that her dragon was not a particularly large gold... probably small when you came right down to it.
And while that was not a problem for Amelia - Sharath was still going to be massive to the youth - the poor queen seemed to have some sort of inborn little person complex. They'd talked after she'd done her chores with R'ysan and the gold hadn't been able to completely explain herself, only give Amelia the impression that she was both super confident in what she wanted and felt she deserved and very not-confident about personal things.
In the end, it had only served to more closely bond Amelia to Sharath and they'd slept side by side that night.
Now, however, that moment of vulnerability had seemed to pass and Sharath was, as always, herself. Which was to say she was itchy and irritable.... and refusing to wait in the private weyr.
Thus, Amelia was moving alongside her dragon, a slight frown upon her lips in irritation that was reflected in Sharath's eyes as well. They were affecting each others moods, though both were irritated for different reasons.
When they'd discovered the weyrling stores were low, Amelia had felt the need to go seek more oil. It would be bad to take the last of the jars that everyone in the barracks used - she wasn't selfish and Sharath was being petulant.
And then Amelia spotted L'thor with his oil and relief shone in her eyes. Unafraid and rather business like, she approached the greenrider with Sharath at her back. "Excuse me?" She broke in after L'thor had finished his chuckle, "Can I take a moment of your time? I need to find the oil stores... the weyrling barracks are low." Amelia smiled and glanced at Sharath, "She's really itchy."
Sharath looked the two over and while she bobbed her head in greeting, she only offered a polite, if short, Hello. I'm itchy... please get Yours to help? We want oil. While authority was definitely in her voice, she was making an effort not to be bossy - though the reasons were mixed and perhaps not as benign as one might think. To not be itchy sooner, it better served her to reduce friction between herself and others... oh, and Amelia was proud of her too, when she was polite - that was always a good thing too.
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Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 3:25 pm
"Eh?" L'thor turned around to face the speaker, and offered a slight smile to the weyrling. "Just use some of mine if you like," he said with a nod to the bucket, "there's plenty there. Name's L'thor by the way, and this is Raith." Just because she was a gold rider was no reason to be nasty right away; she'd been polite enough, as polite as anyone with an itchy dragon was, so for now he would give her the benefit of the doubt. For now. The moment she started being snippy however, he'd have her! No way he was going to put up with bad behavior just because she'd got herself a bit shiny lifemate.
"Play nice Mine," Raith instructed her rider with an amused rumble, before opening her eyes fully and turning her attention down onto the gold dragonet. "Certainly," she nodded slightly, resisting the urge to say 'hello Itchy, I'm Raith' "we would be glad to help anyone suffering from the itches. As Mine says, we have quite a lot of oil here, you are welcome to share it with us. I hope both you and Yours are well today?... Other than the itches, that is," she concluded with a soft rumble of amusement. She didn't remember being a dragonet under her own power, but L'thor was remembering, and she was sharing his memories. She had been very demanding on the oil front, hadn't she?
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Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 11:36 am
Amelia smiled but hesitated, "Thank-you but I need to find more jars for the barracks. The stores are rather low so I thought I'd restock the cupboards." She glanced past him for a moment before returning to gaze as he introduced himself, "Oh! I'm Amelia, and that's Sharath."
At the mention of being allowed use of the oil, Sharath's attention fixed wholly on L'thor. Thank-you, Raith. Mine, accept. I am so itchy...! Do accept!
Amelia blinked at her dragon's sudden request to accept and quirked a lip in a bemused smile. Alright. "Apparently waiting would be a bad idea. You said we could use your oil, yes? I'll find the jars after. Thank-you!" Bending to take a spare oiling cloth, the goldrider started to rub her dragon down and the audible sigh of relief as she started at the itchiest spot made her chuckle. "Sorry to bother you randomly, we were just in a hurry..."
Me and Mine are good today, yes. Lessons are done but the barracks have no oil. So I had to be itchy all the way here, and longer if you hadn't been here. She replied, somehow complaining and sounding grateful at the same time.
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 6:07 am
"I can point you in the right direction afterwards," L'thor offered as he shifted the bucket into a more central position, "for now it's probably best to sooth the little madame's itches before she gets snippy." Snippier, from what he'd heard about this gold. He knew little about the rider herself, but so far she seemed decent enough, if slightly frazzled. Still, he found himself warier of her than he would have been if her itchy dragon were green or blue. Here before him was a little girl who would be one of his leaders one day, merely because of the dragon she had Impressed. She never needed to show talent or dedication to earn rank, it had just been dropped into her lap in a snobby, demanding golden package. She had the potential to be a good leader, but she also had the potential to be terrible a one. At least she seemed alright so far, he supposed he couldn't ask more than that...
"It quite often happens that one half of a bond is highly strung, and the other more relaxed," Raith teased her lifemate, her tone making it quite clear which way around things were in their relationship. Better to keep him occupied with gentle jabs so far as she saw it, the last thing they needed was to get on the wrong side of this young rider and her dragon for the very reasons he was likely to get annoyed in fact. One day this rider would be a very powerful woman, anyone who made an enemy of her would be crushed like an insect.
"Itches are never fun," the green went on, turning back to Sharath, "I am quite fortunate that I seldom suffer from them these days; Mine is very attentive... So tell me, have you begun lessons separate from your clutchmates yet?" She supposed she might as well try to make conversation, even if she and the gold had very little common ground.
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 9:51 am
"Thanks. And yeah..." She smiled as she followed his gaze to her dragon. Sharath could be snippy but... she was also capable of being pleasant, moreso now that they'd talked some. Amelia pursed her lips thoughtfully, having caught that tone of 'before she gets worse' from the rider, and sighed, shaking her head. Apparently Sharath's hatching had left a huge impression on the Weyr at large - people everywhere knew of her gold, or rather her gold's attitude and assumed it was just how she was permanently thereafter. It kind of irritated Amelia, to know the other colours could be dismissed as the excitement and stress of a Hatching but if Sharath mis-stepped, suddenly she was this awful, overbearing queen and that was to be expected.
It wasn't right that Sharath was as, well, queenly as she was. And it was just as not right for others to make assumptions.
Sensing her rider's irritation, Sharath turned her head to nose the youth as she whuffed, eyes whirling in colours that reflected of Amelia's thoughts. Mine...? Is this one bothering you? I am not snippy, you know that. And if he doesn't, a rock can fall on his head. She snorted and thwacked her tail against the ground as if announcing some sort of sentence.
No, Sharath. It just bothers me when people can not see you for you, and see only your ambition or your hide colour... you're so much more. Amelia replied silently, sighing mentally, I know we can't win over everyone but... we can at least try to fix preconceptions. You be you, as always. Her words were fond but gave the dragon insight into her troubles and lifted her gaze to meet L'thor's in an obvious challenge.
Sharath said nothing to him, however, only regarded him evenly as one might a stupid child.
The gold's attention was pulled back to the green once more then, and she nodded, though her posture had grown tenser, the arch of her neck a little more proud. She was a gold after all, and above the questioning of L'thor... and the troubles he seemed to inspire in Amelia. Stupid man. I will itch less later, perhaps. We have. It is boring though... many lessons for Amelia and few for me. I know what I am to do. Confidence edged her tone more strongly whenever she spoke of lessons and the future, her determination never failing to shine through. This was a gold who knew what she wanted and she would have it.
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 1:48 pm
"Mmm, still, we were all young once." L'thor shrugged and smiled slightly, and forced down his irritation. Take it easy. Don't make things worse. "Raith was very demanding as a young dragon," he went on, "I swear there was hardly a second she wasn't demanding I oil her... Now it's only once a day or so she demands that."
Some things might diminish with time, but they didn't often change. The queenly little queen would always be just that, and dragons more suited to leadership than she was in temper would never matter because she was gold and they were not... Still, he and Raith had never yearned for leadership, so he supposed he couldn't really complain... Well, actually he could. He knew good riders who wanted and could handle the role weyrwoman took on with great panache but when would their chance be? Never, because girls like this one were given it for no reason at all save tradition. Tradition said bronzes and golds were the most desirable lifemates. Tradition said they led. Tradition said their worth was greater than the smaller dragons. He hated tradition.
"Lessons..." Raith rumbled thoughtfully and nudged her lifemate for the memories of those times. "I didn't like them either," she agreed, "not until we started learning to fly. Those lessons I did enjoy. The first time you catch the wind under your wings... You forget it, but your lifemate remembers, and sometimes you take the memory from them and recall it too. Sublime." Sharath wouldn't ever be agile in the air, poor thing, but she would have a great deal of endurance. It might be quite nice to be able to fly at your full speed for a long time... but in the end, she preferred her shorter bursts of higher speed. A good thing, it was always sad when you yearned for things you couldn't have... Like a worthy green longing for the post of senior gold. She truly felt for those few of her green sisters who had such a yearning. It had to be difficult to live like that every day.
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Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 10:32 am
Amelia nodded, willing to give this another go at being pleasant, "Sharath's growing so quickly... and so big! If I don't oil her frequently, she ends up so terribly itchy... and then I get itchy too, in sympathy." She smiled, not realizing that Sharath was actually small for a gold as nobody had told her, "I ran out of oil and then barracks were low so I didn't want to take the last of it, and here we are."
It was a good thing, perhaps, that Amelia could not read minds. L'thor's thoughts would have burned through her patience almost immediately... though for reasons totally at odds with his prejudices. Amelia never asked for position, was content in her life before... and who said she could not lead? She already taught apprentices basics and helped manage teams of miners. She was far from a prissy hold-born brat and knew the value of a good day's work.
Sharath nodded, rustling her wings and a sense of impatience creeped into her bearing, I want to fly too... to soar. I want Mine with me, and nothing but the sky. I know I cannot do tricks like you, but I can and will show Amelia everything from aloft. She frowned then, I could do that now... but they will not let me fly. Not until I am older, Amelia tells me.
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Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:22 am
"It always amazed me how fast the bigger dragons grew when I was a weyrling," L'thor said as he went back to working oil into Raith's flank. "There weren't any golds in raith's clutch, just one bronze. He didn't even turn out to be a massive one but it was amazing how quickly he began to dwarf the greens and blues in particular all the same. It must be pretty tough to keep up with how much care she needs."
At least she didn't need to worry about keeping the same rhythms as other wyerlings; no doubt she had plenty to do on a given day, but there was nobody to compare her to, she didn't have to end a lesson until she was completely clear on it, but equally when she found something easy she could just move on... What would it be like, he wondered, to be both the best and the worst in your class? Pretty isolated, he supposed. Being a gold rider wasn't all fun and games by the sound of it, which was one of the many reasons he found them considerably more bearable than bronzes. They might be handed rank on a platter, but it came at a price.
"What's it like being bonded to a gold?" L'thor asked after a moment, figuring he might as well take the chance to quiz a queen rider. "I imagine there must be some distance between you and the other weyrlings already, especially since you've stopped attending the same lessons as them."
"It's worth the wait," Raith assured the small gold with a draconic smile. "You must be impatient, I'm sure I was, and being told it will be good can't be a lot of comfort, but it's all any adult dragon can do for you for now... If I'm right about the schedule of lessons you shouldn't be too far off your first solo glide now." Yes, it had been a while since the hatching, must have been given the size of the dragonets. She would have to see if she could find somewhere to watch those first lessons, it was always good seeing young dragons take to the air for the first time.
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Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:57 am
She nodded, not bothering to try to hide her uncertainty on that aspect, "She was big when she'd just hatched... I don't know what I'm going to do when she's full grown an dwarfs me... hope she doesn't step on me, I think."
I would not step on you! Sharath immediately interjected, sounding hurt. I would never step on you, Mine. Ever.
That made the youth chuckle and she patted the dragon's head as she worked, "I know. I was joking." Still... it was daunting. Sharath had easily grown half again her length in the weeks since the hatching and was already beginning to show a marked size difference between her and her clutchmates. The other weyrlings could easily hug their dragons still, for the most part, while she was starting to be hugged by Sharath instead.
"Oh? Yeah... there's some stupid wall between me and everyone else now. Everybody seems to have this need to defer to Sharath and I for some reason. I know she's a gold... but we're weyrlings, nothing special. And we haven't done anything of note yet, really, so I don't understand it." She pursed her lips, "Don't get me wrong, the attention's nice - people actually listen to me now where before most pretended I didn't even exist. But at the same time, I'm not looking to have my boots licked, you know?"
She shook her head at the memory of lessons, "Ah... and lessons didn't go so well either. I ended up getting the whole class early lectures and myself three days of constant chores because I told down R'ysan when he snarked at D'astel. Then Sharath went and snapped at R'ysan... and I'm pretty sure everyone blamed us for it, even though R'ysan was disrespecting a teacher. I used to instruct apprentice Miners so I know how frustrating it is to have someone back talk." She shrugged, "It hasn't been so bad, at least not yet. My lessons with Luci are going decently, and I'm meeting many new people, even if I get blamed when something goes wrong now." She sighed, figuring it was par for the course. She was a leader in the making and scapegoat graduate it seemed.
Sharath bobbed her head once more, shifting to lie more comfortably once Amelia was finished with a dry patch, I hope so... what is a flying lesson like? Is it formations that the wings learn? Firestone? Those things? Things I can't do. She pursed her lips at that, wondering if those lessons, too, would be separate.
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Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 5:36 am
What would it be like to ride a gold? Raith was comfortable, her neck wasn't too wide, but a gold... Well, at least all weyrwoman would be flexible he supposed. The bronze riders probably liked that, the bastards. "I suppose it's because most people are herdbeasts at heart," L'thor said with a grin as he scooped up more oil. "They're just desperate to find somebody who'll order them around, save them having to think for themselves. I suppose they've latched onto you as their herder already, but maybe a few of them will grow out of it when they feel less at sea with their dragons." Stranger things had happened. He found people who just bowed like that contemptible, no matter what colour dragon they rode. She was just a girl, a weyrling as much as her peers were, but with even less experience of Weyr life than most of them had apparently. Still, people never did behave as sense dictated, shells knew he didn't.
"I've met R'ysan," he went on with a slight smirk, "seemed like a nice lad, if prone to causing trouble. I was a bit like him when I was a weyrling, still am I suppose, never can resist calling my superiors out when they're talking out of their backsides... Still, can't say I ever got a whole class landed in extra lessons. I suppose the weyrleader wanted to make an example of what happens to trouble makers? Hum, and everyone around them apparently." That would bring pressure on everyone from everyone else to behave decently, and at least D'astel hadn't been half as harsh as Z'nal had been back at Ista over that incident at the lake.
"Someone to follow, and someone to blame," he went on with a snort. "When things are going well everyone will love you even if it was nothing to do with you, and when things go wrong everyone will curse you, again even if it had nothing to do with you." Still, it was tough at the top, and she would have cushy quarters, plenty of marks, and plenty of admirers to take her mind off the stress. The fact that she was going to get all of that no matter what still annoyed L'thor, but despite himself he was beginning to feel less hostile towards Amelia. Gold rider or no, she seemed alright.
"Mmmm..." Raith sighed happily as L'thor's fingers found a dry spot of hide and smoothed oil into it. "There are different kinds," she went on after a moment. "First there's solo gliding, once you can do that there are glides with Yours. Then you start doing longer flights... umm... basic formations next," she nodded as she teased the information out of L'thor's mind, whilst trying not to distract him from his own conversation. "Then firestone, and between lessons... You won't have the firestone lessons like you say. I imagine you and Yours will be taught the use of the flamethrowers, and the formations that queens fly in too." So much of Sharath's life would be different to her clutchmates, it must be quite odd to watch them doing things you were not, while doing things they were not. Did she have any friends, other than her lifemate? Life without friends was no fun at all.
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Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 1:24 pm
"I guess they have..." Amelia replied, pursing her lips, "And I'm not really talking about the other weyrlings. It's the weyrfolk... I can get treats for Sharath very easily simply because she's a gold and I don't know..." She shrugged, "I'll have to work harder so I don't feel guilty about accepting the perks, I suppose." Amelia laughed softly, knowing she probably looked pretty awkward - her expertise was not people but rather rock.
The goldrider smiled at that, "I like R'ysan. He's opinionated but not stupid. The kind of person I'd be glad to work for and with." She nodded as she turned her attention back to the gold dragonet, "I'm used to that mentality at least, or at least something similar to it. Excavators get ignored unless something goes wrong and then everyone complains, otherwise it's like we don't exist." She smirked, shaking her head, "Hopefully it's not too bad and I don't end up butchering the role too badly." She was always awed at the turn of events that had changed her life forever.
Sharath snorted, We will be great leaders, Mine. And you will be respected and remembered. I do not doubt you. The gold settled her chin onto the ground and looked for all the world as if she were lounging, Between? Interest coloured her mental voice as she tilted her head. That's right. Between. Soon they'd be able to do that too! Flying and Between and wing formations sounds so much more interesting then what I have had to learn so far. Mine is good at the lessons, even though she had to start from the very beginning. But. She knows things the others do not... like the passages below. And how to read the rocks... and how the tunnels are made. Does Yours have any kind of skills? Sharath would not miss the opportunity to brag about Amelia and how wonderful Hers was. Everybody should know it.
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Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2009 4:52 am
"I suppose so," L'thor grimaced slightly and shook his head. "You'll just need to get used to the fact that a lot of people will always assume you and Sharath are better, more worthy, than any other rider dragon pair save other golds... Well," the grimace became a cynical sneer, "that or they just hope sucking up to you now will get them perks in the long run. If you ever became senior weyrwoman you would of course be in a position to reward your friends and punish your foes. There's plenty around here who must be desperate to get themselves on the former list as soon as they possibly can." Even if she stayed a junior queen rider all her life, Amelia would have huge influence. Best to keep on her good side, right? Pah, like he could be bothered to kiss up, and it didn't seem like she really wanted people to anyway.
"So long as we don't make it onto the second list, we should be - for want of a better word - golden," Raith commented to her rider in faintly amused tones. "It sounds like Yours has been very diligent in catching up," the green went on to the young gold, bobbing her head slightly in acknowledgement of the young woman’s effort. "As for Mine... he knows people, and how to barter. He can get the most out of the marks he earns as a green rider, enough to keep us in as comfortable a style as pairs who are given rather more to work with." She was proud of him just as Sharath seemed proud of Hers. Life might not give them as much as it gave bigger dragons and riders, but he squeezed every deal to get as much as he could for them.
((What the hell Gaia? O_o))
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Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 12:33 pm
Amelia blinked as she listened to him and could not miss the derision in his voice as he spoke of gold riders. "Ah... I don't know why you aren't fond of goldriders but..." She pursed her lips, looking as if she were trying to put words to a sensitive subject, "I don't care what colour of dragon you ride. One thought you worthy enough to be her life partner - isn't that enough? Dragonriders in general are viewed with a great deal of respect and that's nothing to sniff at in my opinion." He sort of reminded her of Sharath and her dislike of other golds... it was amusing for the excavator to ponder. Even if he might not like Amelia or Sharath, he had something in common with the gold despite not knowing it.
She smiled, "And if people think sucking up to me is productive, they'd better think twice. Besides, you're the one with more freedom to move and do as you please. You don't get stopped, or treated differently, or have expectations that you don't even know about yet." The goldrider chuckled, "I can't say I'm a very good Weyrling right now, let alone a Junior Weyrwoman. Still got a lot to learn - I feel like a newly assigned apprentice again."
Sharath tilted her head at the mention of bartering. A quick exchange between rider and dragon gave her the information she needed and coloured her thoughts so she sounded perplexed, That is a useful skill. Mine does not barter so much but she makes what she needs and can craft rock into useful things. Does the number of your marks not provide enough? We only get a room with a bed, a dresser, and some shelves. The gold seemed annoyed at that, thinking she deserved more then a spartan room even at this age.
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Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 10:22 am
"Humm..." L'thor scooped more oil into his hands, pondering the young riders words. "I am more judgmental of gold riders," he went on eventually, "I hold you to higher standards than blue, green, or brown riders. Not fair, I know, but I've never claimed to be perfect. Still," he grinned wickedly at Amelia, "perhaps that will be a refreshing change to people falling over themselves to get in your good books. Glad to hear that doesn't impress you." She did seem alright, this girl. She might actually turn out to be competent and not too corrupt if she kept this attitude up.
"Why though... Why? Jealous? Bitter?" L'thor snorted and shrugged. "I suppose both of those are true; I hate how people treat gold riders, and how so many gold riders seem to love it. Humm, yes, I suppose in the end I just find it hard to swallow that no matter who a gold rider is, no matter what she's like she'll end up at the top or sharding close to it in the end; actual virtue has nothing to do with how far gold riders go. Seems you might be alright though," he offered a slight smile, "you certainly haven't given into snobbery and 'I'm amazing because my dragon is shiny' as yet."
"Enough?" Raith echoed thoughtfully. "We were given a weyr with a bed and some alcoves for storage, we are fed, and I have a quota of oil and soapsand that Mine does not have to pay for. Clothes for Mine, nicer things to eat and drink brought from Holds, trinkets that please us, extra furnishings and so on we must get out of what Mine is given. What he is given is less than what a blue rider is given, which is less than a brown rider, which is less than a bronze rider, which is less than a gold rider. Our tastes are as expensive as any, more than some, so he has to get the best deal..." There was more too wasn't there? Raith tilted her head thoughtfully. "Oh yes," she nodded, "sometimes when we're short on marks we take letters or packages around Pern for Holders in our free time; that brings in some extra."
She didn't especially enjoy being a messenger, but she did enjoy the rewards they got from the job so it was worth it in the end. Not everything in life came your way for free... well, not if you were green in any case. Sharath's quarters would already be luxurious, and she'd probably get better ones once she was mature. Still, such was life she supposed, it wasn't fair and you just had to live with that. Sadly.
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