Welcome to Gaia! ::

Out in the waters a few klicks away from the main island, the waves were gentle, the sun was shinning, the wind steady and strong. It was a perfect day to go fishing. Neri smiled. She had meant to do this a long time ago, ever since she found out that some of her fellow weyrlings had never been to sea before, but she left the Weyr before she had a chance. This was good though. A nice day out, she thought, would do them all some good. She started singing to herself, happily.

"When it's wave over wave, sea over bow
I'm as happy a man, as the sea will allow
There's no other life, for a sailor like me
But to sail the salt sea boys, to sail the salt sea..."

No other life, except to be a dragonrider, right Neri? Bayeth asked her.
Neri chuckled softly as she stepped down from the side of the ship. It's only song, love. she said.

"Woah, look at that Ner!" Neri's brother shouted, leaning over the boat's edge. The boy had been sullen and quiet since losing his twin, but the excitement of seeing so many dragons, and of seeing Neri, and Finbar, who was like a brother to him, had brightened him up a bit. He ran from one end of the boat to the other, watching the dragons following them in the air.
"Are we catching fish?" he asked.
"No, I think we're mostly leaving that to the dragons." she said.

Back at home, Finbar had a whole hoard of firelizards that used to fish with him. He had trained them, or rather, they had learnt, to work together to chase the fish into his nets. The theory was that the same thing would work with dragons. That was the plan at least, but even if it didn't work, she hoped it would at least be a nice break from the norm, both for the weyrfolk and their dragons.

When they got out about as far as they needed, Finbar brought his boat up along side hers and signaled for her to slow down.
Alright. Neri said to Bayeth. This is the spot. You can tell them to land. We'll stop here.

He had to say he was impressed. Bocaith had behaved rather well on the flight, although that was most likely because of their passenger. He knew that L'fir could hold on when he pulled off his stunts, but he couldn't guarantee that for anyone else. He looked back over his shoulder at Cesa and smiled, L'fir was glad she had agreed to come on this little trip, although it had taken some convincing. Not a lot, which was good given how little L'fir usually said. He wouldn't have objected to going alone, but the company was welcome. Tic had been too busy to go, but that wasn't unusual. The three of them had used to hang around a lot, but then Tic had gotten busy and it had been just the two of them. Then Cesa had left, but now that she was back L'fir and her had pretty much picked up where they left off.

Cesa was enjoying the flight, just because she had never wanted to be a candidate didn't mean she didn't enjoy spending time in the sky with dragons. Of course she would have prefered to have flown on her own, but Yodith had decided she didn't want to go. Cesa could discover why, the green just had seemed more content to stay at the Weyr. The ride had been rather smooth so far, which was strange. Bocaith had always been so energetic before. It seemed the blue had the same thought she did, deciding she was bored. Flicking his wings back the blue suddenly dove downwards, causing Cesa to tighten her hold around L'fir's waist. Bocaith stopped himself getting too close to the water and turned into a roll before climbing upwards again.

The sudden disturbance to their otherwise smooth rider had only caused a burst of laughter from the two humans. "Sorry 'bout that." L'fir said through the laughter as Cesa pushed her hair back from her face. "Oh I wouldn't expect anything less from Bocaith." The once kitchenworker replied as her arms returned to L'fir's waist. She'd like to be holding on just in case Bocaith decided he would pull off anymore tricks. The cheerful rumble that came from the blue certainly made it sound like he would.

Finbar held a hand to his eyes and waved to the riders above. He was busy about his work, preparing the net that was going to catch all the fish for them. Cap and Shale had come to bother him, and he was having difficulty shooing them away. The moment they saw the boat, they assumed it was they who were going fishing. But this time it would be left to their bigger cousins. It was Neri who suggested the trip, but Finbar was equally eager to help. He hadn't been sailing since he came to Ista as a candidate, and he missed it. Plus, it was a great way to meet new people. If he was going to be living at the weyr from now on, he had to hurry up and make friends with its residents. Although quiet, Finbar was, in every way, an extrovert. He thrived from being around people, and grew tired when he spent too much time alone.


I do wish more dragons had come. Bayeth said as she landed daintily in the ocean next to them and folded her wings like a swan. Even the many that were following them were not sufficient for Bayeth. She wanted all of them to be here, and she wanted all of them to know that this was her (well, Hers's) idea.

Neri looked up. She swept her hair out of her face and whisked it into a quick briad. She rested her hands on the side of the boat, and leaned out so she could see past the towering sails. "I just wish more people had chosen to ride with us." she said, looking up at the many weyrfolk that were riding with dragons instead. Especially him. she thought, glaring up at a certain former weyrleader testily. The whole point was to try and get him to get over his ridiculous aversion to the sailing, and yet here he was on dragonback instead!

She barely had time to be angry, though, before a little hand came to tug on her shirt. At least someone wanted to come with them, she thought. Neri smiled fondly at the young lad. "That's a jelly, and that part's called the head of the sail. And-" she paused and looked to her brother, who nodded and took over.

"Hi Ionan, I'm Pelias. I'm Neri's brother." he said. Athough a fair bit older than the boy in turns, he had not yet lost his childlike nature. He leaned over and smiled broadly. "Sure, we can be pirates! Where do you want to sail to first, Captain Ionan?"

Hearing T'rel's words, Neri once again turned her eyes to the sky. "You could have come with me too." Neri shouted up to them, and then rounded on T'rel. "And listen you- you'll have come onto the boats at some point, if Zelith wants to help in the catching, so you may as well get it over with."

Cesa and L'fir's attention was drawn away from Bocaith and his antics by someone calling them. Looking over at him the pair waved back, L'fir's more a raised hand in greeting. He used as little motions as he did words. People who didn't know him often mistook it for him being rude, but he just preferred to observe than interact. Well, except where his friends were concerned, but becoming a good friend of L'fir's seemed somewhat difficult when he wasn't good at sustaining conversations.

"I wasn't planning on coming, but L'fir twisted my arm." L'fir looked back at her with a smile as he raised an eyebrow. That was hardly what he had done, but Cesa's grin back seemed that was the story she planned on sticking with. Shaking his head L'fir looked back ahead, until the pair of them heard a voice from below. Bocaith tilted himself so that the two of them could look down at Neri. "I needed to get my work done. Bocaith being able to catch up with you is the only reason I could come at all." Betweening was a lot faster and allowed Cesa to get all her preparation work done so that the people who had to take on her work had as easy a job as possible.

L'fir leaned back to whisper to Cesa so the others wouldn't hear. He didn't really think about the fact they were on a dragon out of normal hearing range. It just seemed to fit the mood better to whisper. "You seem to be in very high demand. Should I be acting honoured that you're with me?" Cesa raised a hand to hide a laugh. She had gotten three offers to ride with people in one day. She had never felt so popular. "Yes, I think you should." She whispered back with a grin, before L'fir returned to his original position.

The pair listened to T'rel and Neri's little conversation. It wasn't eavesdropping if they were shouting it between a boat and dragonback, right? The two of them shot sideways glances at each other when T'rel said he would rather swim. Whilst Zelith landed in the water Cesa unfastened herself from Bocaith, the dragon straightened out a tried to stay balanced. "Why do I feel this may end badly?" L'fir asked as he looked down at the water below them. Cesa patted him on the shoulder and smiled. "Because you clearly worry far too much." Turning to look at T'rel, Cesa shifted onto her knees on the dragon's back, quite practiced at moving around on dragons.

"Hey, T'rel." She called as Bocaith dropped slightly. It wasn't as low as L'fir had told him too, but the woman was right, he did worry too much. "So you'd rather swim? Well how about it then?" She grinned down at her friend as she slipped her feet underneath her. Using L'fir's shoulder for support Cesa pushed herself up so that she was standing, silently thankful that Bocaith could be trusted at times. With a slightly evil smile on her face the woman jumped off the dragon's back. Cesa let out a delighted shriek of laughter as she fell toward the water. She straightened out her legs and brought her arms across her chest, the same way she had been taught when she had gone cliff jumping in her youth. Cesa took a breath moments before she disappeared beneath the water's surface with not much of a splash at all.

If there was one thing T'rel despised more than sailing, it was perhaps being suddenly and unexpectedly thrown into the ocean's salty waters. If only Neri had caught T'rel's frightened expression as he watched Cesa plunge into the depths, perhaps she would have been able to recognize what created the bronze rider's hesitance. He had been raised at Fort, in the Harper Hall. Though closely aligned in tithes, Fort was quite different in setting. Instead of the sea, T'rel had learned to swim in a nearby river. When he had arrived at Ista, he had had to relearn. Swimming in bouyant waters was different than swimming in fresh. Others had told him that swimming in the ocean was easier than other waters--they'd lied. While not a particularly weak swimmer, the bronzerider would never have been able to keep up with someone Istan bred.

He took a deep breath, holding in as much air as his harper trained lungs would permit and allowed the fall. "Shards, it's cold," was his first complaint when he surfaced. He took hold of Zelith and used the bronze to keep afloat. He scowled up at Neri, and then glanced over to Bayeth. "Did you have to do that?" he demanded. "Shards! Now I'm soaked to the bone." For a moment his anger was forgotten, and he glanced around frantically for Cesa.

"Cesa? Cesa! Are you alright?" Forgetting that Cesa was in all probability a decent swimmer--far better than he would ever be--he let go of Zelith and made several attempts at going under to search blindly for the former kitchen worker.

I do not know, Zelith replied, looking over to Bayeth. Mine does not like water. He does not like being here. He came because he was asked to come. I will do what pleases him.

"Yeah, treasure!" Ionan beamed, taking Pelias' hand happily. "Where will it be? Did you hide it, first mate?" The six turn old boy didn't seem to recognize the other boy's hesitance when it came to mentioning dragons and the Weyr. Or if he did, he was in an especially courteous mood and saw fit not to mention it again. "Neri, you're mean!" He whipped around when he felt his ear being pinched. "You're a drudge. I'm captain and I said so. So there. You can't be admiral! There's no admiral in pirates! Not the boss!" He stomped his foot to make his point. No, no! Neri was making up her own rules, which was against the rules of the game!

"Not saluting you, either! I'm telling Noa!"

The invitation to go fishing on dragonback was in interesting offer, one that she wanted to give a try just once. Rumith seemed interested in giving it a go as well. It took a little convincing to get T'rel agree to go, what with his fear of things much deeper than bath water, but she had said that she'd help it be somewhat enjoyable.

When everyone had started out, both in boat and on dragonback, Lute and Rumith had been just about even with everyone. However, they gradually started drifting further back. The pleasant day, the fresh sea breezes, the smell of the salt water was all invigorating and Rumith was getting the itch to have some fun while flying to their destination. It all started simply, with Rumith bobbing with the rolling waves, dipping side to side to skim her wingtips through the surf, kicking up a brief spray of mist. The salt spray tickled the green and she was having a grand old time, swatting at the crests of the waves that rose to meet her.

Tightening her riding straps some, she patted Rumith's neck. The green gave a hoot, rising a small distance to twist and roll in the air, even at one point being upside down. Lute's fingertips just barely trailing the surface of the water for the briefest of moments and she laughed as her hair, in a braid low on the back of her skull, whipped about her. Rumith righted herself with a snap of her wings. The greenrider sighed and dried her hands on her shirt. "That was fun."

Rumith looked ahead, a brief wave of surprise rising in her. It prompted Lute to push herself up as high as she could manage. What was it? "Mine, T'rel is in the water. Bayeth knocked him in. He is clinging to Zelith, but he's still in the surf."

The rider gaped and hunkered herself back down with an aggravated grunt. "Let's fish him out then. He shouldn't be left in the water, especially with his swimming abilities. It wouldn't do anyone any good if he panicked in the water." Rumith beat her wings heavily to carry herself forward, closing the distance that had been created from her playing with the sea. Already close to the water, Rumith simply allowed herself to slow enough to ease into the water, paddling as close as she could manage what with people, and boats, and dragons in the water. Yes, Lute looked rather irked, but Rumith could feel her worry. "What happened? I take my eye off of you for a few moments..." She huffed a sigh, leaning over as far as her straps would allow, reaching her hand out to him as Rumith maneuvered herself along Zelith's side. Speaking more in general to whoever was in earshot, "T'rel isn't the strongest swimmer and water this deep scares him, was this supposed to be some sort of a joke?"

To offer her own bit of assistance, Rumith dipped the wing closest to the bronze and rider into the water and lifted it up under T'rel's feet so that he may have a platform of sorts to reach for Hers' hand. The green was aware that the plan for what they were going to do was being told and she was doing her best to listen while Hers grouched and rescued her soggy friend.

Naturally Cesa smiled when T'rel seemed so happy she wasn't dead. It was pleasant when people were relieved you hadn't drowned. The woman continued to tread water as T'rel proclaimed his innocence. Clearly being frightened of the water was something he didn't want people knowing. Or thinking about him if he was right and he wasn't scared of the water. Given how Lute was reacting Cesa suspected there was at least some truth in what she said. She hadn't really thought about T'rel being frightened of water, maybe it was the depth that bothered him, like she said. It made sense if Cesa thought about it. It wasn't like this far out you could kick off the bottom or just walk back to shore. Cesa didn't really mind the sea at any depth. In fact she seemed to prefer it further out when she was in this mood. Waves broke less out here, so it was easier to drift and swim.

Then just like that, T'rel was gone. Up and out of the water and talking to Lute. Ouch, that hurt. Cesa hadn't ever really been just disregarded like that before. She'd been dismissed because of certain situations before, that was to be expected from time to time. She hadn't even been just left without so much as a word before. Looking about she spotted Bocaith within swimming distance. Setting off the woman thought about it as she crossed the short distance. She supposed it made sense. She did vanish for a long time, it only made sense that the order T'rel placed his friends would shift around and he probably had more in common with Lute, since she was a rider too.

Or maybe... Maybe Lute was the girl that T'rel had told her about. She hadn't thought to suggest her, so maybe it was the rider he'd taken a shine to. Cesa's thought process was interrupted when she reached Bocaith. The blue raised his foreleg to help Cesa scramble up to her previous place. The look L'fir gave her meant clearly he knew something was up, she did dislike how perceptive he was sometimes. Without saying anything the bluerider twisted around and threw an arm around Cesa's shoulder and pulled her into a hug. That seemed enough from both their points of view as the pair turned their attention instead to the plan of fishing.

Ionan, being a weyrbrat without a foster mother, had little respect for adults, and less for those adults that saw fit to attempt to tell him what to do. Or how to play his games. He was traded from creche volunteer to creche volunteer like a piece of unwanted baggage. He frowned up at Pelias. "It's my game, so my rules," he protested stubbornly. Being an imaginative boy of six turns was a difficult thing. Adults always wanted to join in and fix things. He wanted things to go the way he'd said they would! And what was wrong with being a drudge, anyway?

He stuck his tongue out at Neri, then looked back to Pelias. A small smile broke through the previously upset expression he'd been wearing. "Yeah!" he exclaimed, forgetting to whisper. "We'll be the dragonrider-pirates and burn her ship down and she'll drown! We can steal all her treasure and be rich and buy our own Weyr!" He beamed up at the older boy, taking his hand again. "We're friends again," he informed him. "I'll be the Pirate Weyrleader! Cesa! L'fir, you have to play too!" He turned to look at the bluerider and kitchenworker.

"You're going to burn the ship, okay? Because we're dragonrider pirates! And T'rel and Zellie and Lute too! You have to play!"