Welcome to Gaia! ::

Life happened quickly when a person didn't necissarily want them to. Babies took their time and vegetables grew on their own schedules; a person learned to follow nature in its course of ebb and flow. Eventually it became habit. Natai threw herself into the rhythm that made up a Holders life from a young age, with lists and schedules and organization that came from a large family and a mother with little tolerance for shenanagins.

An infant dragon destroyed all illusions of such things. Iachixth existed for four days as of that morning and ever since her arrival, chaos reigned. In and of herself, Iachixth did nothing outside of squirm, ask questions while prodding Natai with love and, overall, simply being a baby. She ruined no more doors and ate no more cakes, she simply stayed near to her rider with various (and numerous) inquiries.

Her existence created its own uproar. Wedding party turned Hatching Feast without pastries or a large and inappropriate cake. Manan packed up Matai after he and Natai talked. They left. A part of her broke when it happened; Iachixth squeezed her love between the cracks of Natai's heart and reminded her she'd never be alone, they would see plenty and one day Matai again too. Mother change the wedding room to the dragon room an after two days of dragonprints through the house, Father knocke in part of the wall and put n a large door. Even the Hold quieted somewhat with whispers of the Revolution sending whers to kill them all or steal her or both. People began to sleep with weapons at night.

To calm them, three days after Iachixth's birth, Mother sent word to Trine.

That next morning lacked murmurs and sidelong glances. Natai filled those three days with oils and glittering hide, food and blood. She didn't know much of dragons unless 'feed it and keep it full of oil' from Manan counted as training. A part of her doubted it. In the rising of the red-pink of morning, Natai sat on an old squat stool in her loose skirts and sleeveless top, elbow deep in bubbles and a dragons love.

A good thing she cut off her hair once the wedding was called off; the black pixie cut kept Iachixth from nibbling on it as she thought and squirmed in the front of the house in the Holdtown. She pressed close to Natai to watch the bubbles burst and scent her rider with lilac, her dark black skin just as shiny as the dragons as she scrubbed.

"Honestly, Iachixth. I'm not sure how you managed it."

Worms. Iachixth said with as much gravity as she could, and then thrust her little gold head under Natai's chin. They are silly things and hide from me. Also, you were asleep. Nana was doing it.

"Nana most certainly was not picking up rocks and looking for worms outside of my bedroom, you silly thing." Natai scrubbed some dirt from between Iachixth's claws as she'd had to do with numerous small children over the years, Nana's friends and eventually neices, nephews. "Do you want a new one?"

Yessssss. I want one! I'm bored like this, Natai, I don't like standing here.

"But the sunrise is pretty, don't you think?" Natai pulled her head back in order to squint down at the dragon, her teeth showing with her open, unguarded smile. Black eyes, dark as her skin, beamed down at her dragon. "Now. What part of the wherrie has the most feathers?"

Uhm... Iachixth squeaked in thought, arching her back into the scrubs of the sponge. Well, wherries only have feathers outside though...The head?

"Ah ha, you said outside. Conratulations, Iachixth, you're ... where are we?"

The dragon paused and rifled, briefly, through her riders memories. Twelve!

It would be a good day.

Iachixth stretched out in the small tub, still standing even as Natai started to decorate her headknobs and eyeridges with soft bubbles that clutched her small golden hide. It made her look like a rather silly flower, or perhaps a vert decorative, dragon sized bug. Natai shared the mental image of bug-Iachixth flitting from flower to flower, eating worms and other bugs. The little gold trilled her enthusiasm and did her best to make her wings 'buzz'.

She succeeded in soaking both Natai and the ground with lilac water, leaving her rider sputtering from surprise and flower-laden tastebuds. "That-" she coughed, shaking out her hands. "Very nice attempt, Iachixth."

I'm good at buzzing! Bzzz, bzzz, bzzz. I can eat flowers, right? she snapped her little jaws, eyes bright with blues and greens. Natai grabbed for another sponge when something happened. Iachixth's head filled with another voice - Natai never spoke to her with words mentally, wasn't quite sure if she could - and Berath would be the first. The gold squirmed in the tub and tilted her head skyward, giving the big green thing a squeal of understanding. Hello! You are very large in the sky. How are you doing that? I am Bug-Iachixth and I am buzzing.

She flapped her wings once again, sending Natai scrambling to her feet. She heard Beraths words through Iachixth's very open mind. The holder girl squinted up, the slightest of frowns curling her lips. "Ask her where they're from, Iachixth."

My Natai says 'ask here where they're from'! Is there anywhere else? I like it here.

The word came of the Gold Hatchling while Kindra was bathing. Any other time she might have just gotten up, dried off and had Suunath fly her to the place right away but Kindra hadn't been sleeping well, hadn't been taking very good care of herself and as such she finished bathing, quicker than she'd wanted to but still painfully slow for Suunath's liking.

"MINE!... hurry up.. SHE has been found, i want to go and see her... HURRY" she snapped at Kindra, pacing her Weyr.

"Suunath, why don't you hunt a couple of herbeasts for her, she is at a Hold, not a Weyr and they might not be well equipped in the meat department" she suggested, knowing full well a Hold would have plenty of meat for the time being but ... perhaps as the Gold grew they would find themselves needing more and more, perhaps more than they could afford or want to part with.

"Fine..." she huffed, "I will select only the best" she added, snorting and kicking up sand from her bed as she took off towards the beast pens, leaving Kindra to finish up and get out of the water as fast as she could.

It took her longer to dry her hair, by the time she had gotten it to a point where it was just barely damp Suunath had already grabbed two large and rather fat herdbeasts, probably the pick of the lot. One she ate herself, crunching away while Kindra finished drying her hair. Any other time Kindra might have baulked slightly at the sound of bones being cunched in dragon teeth but she relished it, knowing how Suunath had barely eaten sufficently over the past few sevendays. She was glad that the Gold was eating.

"are you dry yet Mine? We must go.. NOW" Suunath was demanding now, leaving Kindra in no doubt that her Queen would go by herself if she tried to stall her any longer "I'm ready Suunath, it's not like we could have gone Between with my hair wet, you know that" she tried to soothe, dressing quickly and putting her hair up. Today she wasn't about fancy dresses, she'd be going Between on Suunath which meant she had to wear riding gear, not the impression she wanted to make but still.. being safe was better than looking pretty... at least this time. It didn't take long for her to get Suunath saddled up and she was up and they were off to the place they had been shown.

They emerged from Between and circled a while before Suuanth spotted a Green shape, sharing her vision with Kindra and Kindra swore.. Someone had beaten her to the Gold... well there would be hell to pay if it was a revolutionary dragon. Spiralling down Suunath roared a warning below... cutting it off sharply as she realised who the Green was and instead turning the roar into a greeting. "It is the Healer's Dragon, Berath." she informed Kindra, this did nothing to mollify the woman.. in fact she was more frustrated than before.. surely the man should have had the decency to let the Hatchling's mother be the first to meet her. "Tell him we are landing, and we are going to see your Gold whether he likes it or not" Suuanth passed the message on to Berath.. well the part about meeting the Hatchling anyway, deciding on Tact for dealing with the green, and well .. she was a Healer's dragon, and would be there to make sure her offspring was healthy, not that either Kindra nor Suunath thought she would be otherwise. "Young one, i am here!" she called to the Gold, her maternal inclination fading incredibly fast but Kindra with her long memory and strong emotions meant that Suunath really really wanted to greet her gleaming daughter.

She landed awkwardly, the Herdbeast she had hunted for her offspring in her claws, Kindra remained on her dragon for the time being, waiting, trying to bring her thoughts into some sort of order, trying to decide between what she wanted to do .. and what was BEST to do. If it were up to her, she would have Suunath take up the Gold in her paws, she herself would grab the girl and spirit them away back home, back to the Weyr but .... but .. politics demanded other courses of action and she fought with herself internally about it.

Through her life, Natai saw few dragons and they were never very close. Search dragons, mostly, nothing to fret about. But Berath stood much closer than any of them, a very real green with scars, a huge wall of muscle and a noticable lack of intimidation. The goldrider stood her ground against the (not terrifying) onslaught, black eyes rounded with her stare at Berath and the quickly more visible Bereck.

"It's a pleasure to me---" Something roared in the sky. Natai looked up and blinked once. "--et you. Goodness. What is that?"

You can come closer, chirped Iachixth. She awkwardly clambered from the bath tub, little claws clutching. The gold eventually escaped her flowery pool and scampered towards Natai again. Both girl and bondmate edged towards the pair, though Natai had her eyes on the gold pair.

Iachixth, excited as a puppy on klah, squeaked again, winding herself about Natai's legs in a mostly fluid manner. Her head kept going from Berath to Suunanth and back. She spoke to both females, mind voice cheerful with life and pleased with them. Hello, Berath! Hello, Suunath-who-clutched-me! Are you both from the Trine? You can look at me if you want, I smell like sunshine. My Natai says so. Don't you?

"I said lilacs, dear." Natai rubbed her head fondly, her gaze following Iachixth's now; Kindra to Bereck to Kindra. "And you feel like sunshine."

I don't know why she makes sure we know the difference, Iachixth said to the dragons. But I know sunshine and lilacs. They're bubbles. And they're good things.

Natai cleared her throat and called out to the humans. "Hello. Welcome to our home."

So far, so not disastrous. Good. Bereck gave his dragon a mental prod, causing the green to walk most of the way over to the hatchling and then lie down flat on her belly. It wasn't dignified, and nor was the short rope ladder attached to her harness that he let down but it was still the only way he could manage. Refusing to look at anyone Bereck released himself from the riding straps and started the painstaking process of dismounting.

Berath assured Sunnath; unlike her rider she was totally unconcerned with how they might look, save that it upset him. To her bondmate, who had just made it to the ground, she sent a feeling of love and reassurance; she was sure the holder girl would not judge him, she would be glad of his help.

Bereck replied stiffly as he took his cane from where it was tied to her harness and then summoned all but one of his firelizards again to pick up the bag of supplies. Leaning heavily on the simple crook-handled cane the healer moved slowly towards the little gold and her dark-skinned rider. The girl was skinny but didn't look to be malnourished, which was a good sign to begin with.



Bereck replied with a feeling of affection for his dragon. His expression however remained serious, and his bright blue eyes were intent as he pulled off his riding goggles. He passed the goggles to a blue flitt who buzzed away from the bag to accept them and put on his rectangular spectacles instead, which were taken from a pocket of his vest. The blue vanished with the goggles and reappeared again a moment later to take up his place on the bag.

"Natai," he greeted as he came within polite speaking distance. Behind him the little faire of firelizards hovered gripping the bag; one silver, one brown, one crimson, three blue and one green. "Bereck of Berath," he nodded, "Masterhealer."

Then he glanced at Kindra, and shards look at the way she was carrying herself! Proud as, well, a gold. Well it wasn't a shock; he knew her for the daft arrogant wench she was. Since meeting her in the infirmary he had discovered that she had come from a Lord's family too, so it was small wonder she thought so very well of herself. A pity her Impression had put her ego up a peg or trillion rather than bringing it down....

Interesting though that she said she was Trine and not Benden after the tantrum she had thrown at him on the subject. Humm.

Kindra couldn't care less of Bereck's thoughts or musings about her right now as the girl replied "She is rather lovely isn't she" admitted Kindra, thawing just a little at the fact the girl kept close to her dragon. She didn't miss the fact Natai had said Kindra's name before Bereck's. "That's certainly a mouthful of a name Iachixth" small humor giving her voice a slightly gentler tone than the one of only moments ago. "Suunath has hunted the best that Trine has for your Gold" she added.

"There is plenty more at the Weyr, you could even choose yourself which one you want and the people of my Weyr will prepare it for you and Yours." she shuffled further forward, imitating Berath a little in body position, she would have moved closer but there wasn't a great deal of room.

"Your mother is a butcher you say? and your Father?" she asked, curious a butcher in the family was handy with a hatchling dragon at the very least. She was a bit put out by the girl's question though.. surely it was obvious?! ... that they were here to take her and her Gold to the weyr, the Hold was no place for a dragon, certainly not for a Gold. She opened her mouth to say something but Suunath interjected

"Mine.... be careful of what you say" she grumbled the warning privately to Kindra, who frowned a little.

"For the moment Natai.. it is WE that are here to help you, Bereck here to ensure that Iachixth is healthy, I am here to bring you back where you belong, to learn how to properly care for your new partner, i'm sure your parents will understand" she said, carefully and without any of the arrogance she might have used beforehand.

We have some here~ Father, he takes care of them and then Mother makes them dead. She nodded quickly as she saw Natai do once or twice. The gold plunked her rear on the ground, still bright, pleased, and quite excited to see these brand new people wanting to talk to her. It only took a heartbeat but then she lie down the same as the two adult dragons, squirming on the ground and creating more mud as her wet underside rubbed against the dirt. Is this a game? Are we doing it right?

Natai's smile warmed a bit with Kindra's compliment, her look fond when she looked to her little bubble of sunshine. Even when Matai and manan left with the moon that first night, she had her Iachixth there to care for her broken smile. Who could argue with a being that only wanted love and attention, with some food and a massive amount of cuddling? Certainly not Natai. She never wanted to argue that. "Mother is not overly fond of nicknames, as odd as that is. We do appreciate the herdbeast. Father's have learned that mooing at Iachixth only makes her want to chase them already. He cares for the beasts and runs the shop front with my brothers."

Pride all but radiated from iachixth. The huge beasts feared her! She sent them shaking in their delicious, fat covered hides, yes she did. The pride faded quickly, cut off by Natai's sudden and intense spike of caution. Iachixth keened at her rider, edging over to press against her leg.

"No," Natai said after a few heartbeats, her smile in place, tone serene. She kept her alarm at the goldriders announcement buried down under her mask of polite welcome. "We happily accept any help in making sure she is healthy - and she is, save for the constant mud play - but we will not be going anywhere for the foreseeable future. This is where we belong. Thank you for the kind offer."

For now. iachixth murmured privately to her rider. She knew that Natai wanted to see things, to do things. That would be later, though. This was now.

The butchers daughter looked to Bereck instead, her shoulders somewhat more rigid than before they started talking. She did not like this line of conversation. She did not like it at all. "To look at her, do you need to sit? The tub itself is much more sturdy than our stool. We could flip it over should you want it."

Iachixth nosed the dirt, her eyes up at Berath now. Is moldy cheese bad?

No, humm? Bereck looked around the place, it was hardly what he considered an ideal environment for a baby dragon, but he failed to see how her colour mattered. He knew exactly with it did to Kindra though. If Natai didn't want to leave however he couldn't imagine it being easy - or sensible - to force her.

He had been about to reply to the question about a place to sit with a reluctant yes when Kindra had her little outburst.

He raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips, folding his arms across his chest with rather obvious impatient disapproval. "I am sure that now you have made her aware of that risk she will take great care," the healer said in pointedly patient tones as he passed a message to Berath to be relayed in private to Sunnath.

the green passed along dutifully, her tones calm but confident; she clearly had no compunction about letting the gold know of Bereck's disapproval and no wish to countermand it with any feelings of her own on the subject.

With that done in a bare moment Bereck turned away from Kindra and nodded to Natai, uncrossing his arms so that he could lean on his cane again. "It would be easier to examine her if I sit, the tub will do fine if you have finished with it."