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Post by Sparrow on Feb 5, 2011 18:37:58 GMT -5
"I've heard that's about how it goes." Kora had grown up among dragons. Their suddenness had never bothered her much, but it seemed like plenty of Candidates were practically snatched standing and dropped at the Weyr. Kora, on the other hand, had moved to the Weyr with her mother when it was created, and here she had been ever since.
She had never been Searched. If not for the lack of Candidates back then, she never would have been able to Stand. It was a curious chain of events that led up to her getting Nayarath, and one she was grateful for.
Kora smiled. "I'm not sure people get to take that into consideration." But what a funny thought. She heard some mental laughter from Nayarath too. Dragons seemed to be born knowing their place. Did they think about that while they sat in their eggs?
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Post by Sketchy on Feb 5, 2011 19:02:10 GMT -5
"The rider was maybe a year or two older than me, which I think is what threw him off. He kept asking how old I was every now and then." His eyes gleamed with humor as he shook his head. "I think even his dragon was frustrated by the time they set me down."
Tacien knew how it went, of course. His mother had been Searched, back in the day, but things had changed. And he hadn't been looking to be Searched, either, as he knew most candidates at least tried to be around when 'riders came Searching.
"No, probably not. But it would be nice if we could." Again he thought of Dacien- would that boy ever grow up?! Of course, it didn't occur to him that they were the same age. Travel had hardened him in ways, and weyr-life had seemed to only make his brother even more eccentric. If possible.
"What's it like? Being in charge of the weyr, I mean."
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Post by Sparrow on Feb 5, 2011 19:26:00 GMT -5
"That would probably be it." Tacien did look very borderline, easily over the usual age limit, but she still felt she could trust a Searchdragon. Dacien hadn't appeared as old as his brother did, so maybe it was that they were twins that had gotten him in. It didn't sound like they had been Searched together though, which she found a bit strange.
She put the question away for later. "I don't know how much effect it would have." A baby could figure it was going to be responsible and still turn out as someone that did his best to avoid life.
And that was still a strange thing to picture.
Kora blinked. "It's... it's a lot of paperwork, honestly. It's the Weyrleader that does all the exciting things, leading dragons against Thread, running sweeps and all that. I'm in charge of making sure we always have enough food and beds, keeping track of the weyrfolk and the creche and so on. I get to know a lot of the people dragonriders generally ignore, which I think is a benefit, but it eventually all comes down to inventories and tracking rumors, which are both arduous tasks." She laughed. Kora was no gossip, but she heard everything that went on in the Weyr.
If only there weren't scores of other women readily passing it on, Kora would be the end of the line for rumors. No one would tell her anything then.
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Post by Sketchy on Feb 5, 2011 22:46:40 GMT -5
"Hm," he agreed, listening to her explanation of weyr responisibilities. It sounded similar to pretty much any other job where you were in charge of a large group of people. "Ah, so as is typical, the man gets to have all the fun?" Could it be? Tacien teasing someone? Never. He was merely stating a fact that was a little ironic and amusing. Definitely.
"Rumors and inventories, what a way to live," he mused. "Again, for the second time tonight, I am glad I'm male, and not female." The more he learned about weyrlife, the more he had to wonder about how much importance was put upon gender. At least, in the high ranks. He knew in the lower ranks, it was all about your dragon: what colour and what wing. But queens seemed to have their own rank all to themselves: a pretty little woman to take care of home and produce babies.
Not that Tacien disagreed. For the most part, he knew it was simply the way things had evolved. But he stored it away in his mind that were he to end up with a rider for a more permanent form of mate, he would give her freedom. Perhaps that was why his mother had so loved his father- he had never imposed any weyr rules on her at all. She did what she had to and most things she wanted, with his grace given.
Interesting. He'd have to ask da' about that next time he saw them. "Did you ever think you'd be the weyrwoman one day?" He stuck his hands in his pockets. "I suppose not," he answered himself after a second. "I can barely imagine having a dragon, let alone a rank that came with it."
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Post by Sparrow on Feb 5, 2011 23:14:09 GMT -5
"Oh, always." Kora laughed, not very serious with her answer.
She shrugged. "Nayarath is a bit bulky for a lot of the things the other dragons do." Queens were like any other mother: heavier. Nayarath had filled out a lot after her first clutch, as had all the other queens. They had little reason to be agile though, and plenty to carry a food supply. Growing and watching eggs was a pretty depleting duty. "I think we're a lot safer than everyone else, but I guess that's the point. You don't want queens dying."
Particularly not me, Nayarath chuckled. She got in plenty of exercise chasing herdbeasts, and Kora got plenty bathing Nayarath afterwards, so it all made up for slightly smaller amount of physical work they had to do.
Is that your excuse for troubling them now? We could just go out more. Kora got in a lot of trouble from the beasthandlers for letting Nayarath terrorize the herds.
...No. Regrettably, it was her favorite pastime.
"Ha! No. Never. I would've been shocked if I had Impressed even a Green when I stood." She glanced over at Tacien. He struck her as the sort for a Bronze. But many Candidates were that way, disbelieving. "Dragons love to prove people wrong," she said. "We have a girl who was completely sure she would Impress a queen, stood at two clutches without Impressing anything, and at her third, the White dragon found her. Dragons don't care a whit for what you're imagining."
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Post by Sketchy on Feb 5, 2011 23:41:34 GMT -5
"I suppose it's best to keep the mothers safe so we can have more children to send out to take care of business," he drawled. He had never seen Nayarath as a hatching, so he had no idea how much she had grown. But he did know she was very large now- but maybe that was because she'd been peering down at him like he was dinner... maybe she'd been looking at Dacien, though. Even if dragons didn't eat humans, Tacien bet one could be hard pressed not to to eat his brother after spending a bit of time in his company.
"Dragons are a shock no matter the colour, I suppose. But really. Being a weyrbrat to being a candidate to being... weyrwoman in training? That must've been hard." Forehead creased thoughfully, Tacien shrugged it off. He wouldn't bother thinking about a dragon he may or may not Impress. If it happened, it happened. Otherwise, life would just go on as usual. He was too old to wait around much longer.
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Post by Sparrow on Feb 5, 2011 23:59:34 GMT -5
"That would be the reasoning." Females being more protected and subdued, and more gaudy, busy males was a development that occurred in far more places than among dragonriders. It was obviously a strategy that worked. Of course, Golds were plenty gaudy.
Gorgeous, Nayarath corrected. Gaudy implied some unnecessary factors, and she loved every inch of herself.
Kora smiled slightly, thinking. "Yes. But luckily for me, Nayarath hatched in the only clutch ever to hold two queens, so at least I had company." Nayarath had more rank that Kelth had, and no one had been entirely sure that Kelth was necessarily a fertile dragon, but she had been raised as one. Kora and Nayarath had appreciated the company. It made things a little easier, even if they always knew Kora would be the one doing all the work and Shador would get to just mess around.
The Violetrider had been very skilled with that. "At least you don't have to worry about it, huh?" Bronze and Tanriders had to worry about becoming Weyrleader though, which was far more sudden. Women knew from the moment they Impressed a queen what to prepare for.
Kora needed to not get ahead of herself here. Tacien could still Impress anything... although she was definitely doubting Greens or Barreds, or even Blues, had much chance of approaching him.
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Post by Sketchy on Feb 6, 2011 0:22:39 GMT -5
"Two queens? Now, that's not something commonly heard of." Even in his travels he hadn't come across something like that; and to be sure, that was something that would garner a lot of talk around a cup of klah.
Ah! Speaking of klah... Tacien drew a small flask out of his inner jacket pocket and opened it to take a sip. Pausing in the conversation, he offered it to Kora, not knowing if she was interested or not.
"With two queens, I imagine you two were fairly close?" He had yet to meet the other queen, but then again, he hadn't met many of the people of rank here, except Kora. "No, I don't." He smiled a little. It was nice that there was no threat of being dragged into a position unawares. If he got any position at all, he'd have to work for it and earn it. Whether weyrleader, a wingleader, or something completely unrelated to dragons, he would be putting forth the thought and effort to get it. "No matter what happens at the hatching though, I imagine I'll stick around. Weyrlife is interesting."
Between the dragons he saw daily and the interesting politics, Tacien was starting to feel at home.
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Post by Sparrow on Feb 6, 2011 0:36:53 GMT -5
"There weren't two queen eggs, Kelth just popped out of an average one. Since then, Violets have always hatched from queen eggs though." Many people had been disappointed when Nayarath's first queen egg hatched Violet Jorindath rather than the grand Gold they were expecting. They had all called a separate egg to be a Violet, but two queens hadn't hatched at once since. Pern was no longer so desperate for dragons.
Kora glanced at the flask Tacian had abruptly offered her. "What's in that?" It smelled a bit of klah, but she wasn't sure that she shouldn't be wary of something someone had just pulled out of his jacket. Were it klah... she wouldn't really mind a quick drink, although she also felt a bit anxious about sharing.
Kora frowned. "Yes, we were." Most likely he had heard that Shador and Kelth had died recently. She sighed. "Very close."
She struggled to brighten again, helped by Nayarath. "If you don't Impress here, I'm sure Jorindath will clutch before you've outgrown Candidacy." If he didn't Impress there... well, Kora wouldn't mind him sticking around as a worker. She saw plenty of the weyrfolk.
And Tacien may not have a lot of experience with it, but he was right. Weyrlife was very interesting.
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Post by Sketchy on Feb 6, 2011 1:12:59 GMT -5
"Oh wow, that's unlikely," he commented. "Are there many violets being hatched? I had thought it was still fairly uncommon." Tacien shook the flask a little, shrugging. "Just some klah. I tend to carry some around out of habit- I just never knew where I was going to end up." Seeing her hesitation, he added: "I'm not diseased, I promise."
"Were?" It took Tacien a minute to connect the past tense and the fact that he had heard something about a death... "Oh." He paused, "I'm sorry for your loss." It seemed the right thing to say, the correct thing, but it still felt shallow and insufficient.
"That's good. I was figuring this would be my last, and first, chance, as I got into this whole thing so late." If a little bit of klah and talk about him Impressing didn't cheer her up, he wasn't sure what would. Dacien would advise him to get naked, but what did he know? "Either way, I think I'll stick around. It's interesting here, and traveling is getting more dangerous..."
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Post by Sparrow on Feb 6, 2011 9:53:48 GMT -5
OOC: xD Dacien's advice made me lol. Do eeeet *brick'd*
"If our current queen egg is a Violet, we'll have hatched more Violets than Golds since Kelth first hatched." Violets were smaller, clutched smaller clutches and, so far, did not clutch queens. It would make sense if they were slightly more common than Golds.
"No, I didn't think so." She flushed a little. Of course she didn't think he was diseased she just... was generally shy about sharing drinks, the reasoning for which she had never really thought about. Maybe that was it. "But if you don't mind, I wouldn't either." She accepted the flask, took a small swallow, handed it back.
Kora smiled weakly. "It's alright." She was alright. Not necessarily over it, but well enough recovered that she could avoid looking like a total sop in front of people.
"Is that what were doing before coming here? Traveling?" Dragons certainly made doing that easier. Time for it was limited, but with the option for between and getting to places in moments, that could easily be made up for. Traveling might also explain why Tacien and his twin weren't Searched together.
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Post by Sketchy on Feb 6, 2011 17:28:55 GMT -5
"So not so uncommon, then," he murmured. Handing her the flask he waited patiently, a faint smile given as he tucked the container back into his pocket. "It's all right if you're not all right. It takes time." He couldn't quite recall the time frame, but he knew it'd been semi-recent. Things like that could take a while to get over.
Glancing around at the weyrbowl (where they'd apparently ended up, Tacien stretched his arms over his head, lacing his fingers together as he nodded.
"I was out to see the world." He smiled a little grimly, "What's left of it. Once Dacien got Searched there wasn't much point for me to stick around. Anna is still with our parents and she's doing good. I wasn't as... needed. So I left. To see what was out there." He frowned a little. "I realized we really did need dragons, even if when I was younger I always thought they stole our mother away from us. But I get it, now, I think. At least a little more. I was on my way to Nyocia when I was Searched." He rubbed his shoulder a little sheepishly. "I had thought to come and offer my services for training or teaching. Then I ended up being Searched."
He paused for a second, "Ironic, I suppose, but it's to the same end."
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Post by Sparrow on Feb 6, 2011 17:48:51 GMT -5
Kora smiled weakly. "Of that I'm well aware." She lost a lot of close people in her time as Weyrwoman. Shador was the first actual death, but she had been abandoned and turned on, and was getting better a dealing with it. Deaths were hard though, particularly when they were of Shador's sort.
So Dacien had been Searched first. Likely well before; to see much of the continent on foot would take some time. And his mother had been a rider, but obviously her children hadn't grown up around dragons. Where was she then? This was something Kora disliked about learning a person's history; there was always more explaining that could be done on every incidence.
Funny that he had already been headed to Nyocia when the Searchdragon found him. Tacien's destination may have been what stuck out to the beast. "I suppose that sped up your travel a lot."
"If you wanted to be teaching, you'll get a lot more done as a dragonrider. Most don't want to listen to mere weyrfolk." Most of the people of the lower caverns didn't seem to mind much, but Kora did hear complaints here and there, particularly from the Healers, who the riders really did need to listen to. Unfortunately, the vanity most riders had about their profession wasn't something Kora could easily, or even with hard work, resolve.
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Post by Sketchy on Feb 6, 2011 18:09:33 GMT -5
"Good. Most people don't realize that. Or accept it. One or the other," he noted. Tacien had been lucky so far- few people close to him had died, just a few distant relatives. Traveling as he had, he never really got too close to anyone for a long period of time, which was almost a protection in a way. Shallow, but protective.
"Oh yes. But I'd already decided it was time to settle down, so it didn't mess up my plans too much. Just a little." He grinned, kicking his foot in the dirt. The weyr was really a gorgeous place scenery-wise, though at night it was all shadowed.
"Mere weyrfolk?" Tacien's voice was surprised. "But weyrfolk keep a weyr running. There's no point to having dragons if you don't have healers or cooks or tanners..." His voice trailed off. "I guess people never understand, do they? It's the little things that make up the whole." Tacien was very much a detail man. His brother, however, was "the big picture" type, which perhaps was their biggest difference.
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Post by Sparrow on Feb 6, 2011 18:21:26 GMT -5
Kora had no clue why- or how- someone would not catch onto the fact that life could take time to recover from. To her it seemed like it would be rude to quickly get over something like a friend dying.
The closest conclusion she could come to was that they merely wanted to avoid burdening others with their feelings, which Kora, though far from an expert at it, did tend to try and avoid doing.
"It's not easy to settle down when you've got dragons in the way," Kora said. Whether Tacien meant that in the sense of marrying or just setting up somewhere and sticking with it, dragons interfered. They did so less with the latter, at least.
"That was sarcasm," Kora clarified. Every time she attempted it, it came back to bite her. She had thought the things they had discussed already would have let on that she did have a big respect for the weyrfolk. They were the people she worked with. She smiled weakly. "Riders and weyrfolk alike think Candidates are only there to run errands for them, that they're the lowest of the low. But without them the Weyr would die entirely." The little things played a big part, most definitely.
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Post by Sketchy on Feb 7, 2011 17:35:09 GMT -5
"I think I'll manage. Settling down is different for different people, after all," he mused. "For me, it's as simple as staying in one place for more than a few weeks." He frowned. "This means I'll have to remember people's names and such, though. Hm." It'd been a long time since he'd had to adapt to a new area for anything more than passing through. He hadn't really planned on going back to any one place he'd visited, so he'd just drift through... but now he was here.
What an interesting concept.
"Ah, you need to work on that," he joked in return.
"And I've noticed that. At least people don't peg me as one right off. I've got my height and my imposing stare, or something like that." Though he was joking, it was probably more true than he was going to admit. Tacien could be an intimidating person, when he wanted to be.
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Post by Sparrow on Feb 7, 2011 17:49:56 GMT -5
"There's a lot of names to learn here." Dragons were helpful when it came to other dragonriders, since they were always able to name every dragon, but Kora still sometimes mixed a name up here and there. She was lucky to be, for the most part, good with names.
Kora smiled wryly. "I've discovered." She wasn't sure how likely it was for her to necessarily improve on how to be sarcastic. It seemed easier to her for everyone else to just realize that sometimes the Weyrwoman was.
"That does have an effect." Kora laughed. "But as soon as they see your knots they'll peg you, imposing stare or not." Half the people that recruited Candidates for tasks didn't even hardly look at their face, just their shoulder. There was the revealing knot, here came the order. Kora was guilty of doing that, or worse. She could just send for a Candidate and know already, never look at all. It came made her feel a lot like Nayarath.
Hey.
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Post by Sketchy on Feb 7, 2011 19:01:38 GMT -5
"Well, I know yours, mine, and my brother's. That's three in a short amount of time." Tacien was relaxing a little. The cool air combined with good company made him a little more playful. As long as Kora didn't expect to see this sort of softness on a regular basis, it could be a decent friendship. When he was busy, other things came first. But right now, he felt refreshed and comfortingly warm from the klah.
"It's a skill," he replied solemnly. He would know.
"I suppose you're right." He fingered the knots on his shoulder absently, looking to see hers in the dim lighting. "Perhaps they'll change soon, though." He was determined to be at least a little hopeful for the Impression. No, he wasn't generally an optimist (he prefered 'realist') but he could have back-sliding moments now and then, couldn't he?
"So. What sort of positions are you in need of around here?" Just in case he didn't Impress, however, he was going to keep his options open.
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Post by Sparrow on Feb 7, 2011 19:18:24 GMT -5
"It's a good start." But he had a long way to go. Thinking about just how many names there were around the Weyr made her glad she had lived here since it's beginning. Candidates coming and going she wasn't as aware of. She ought to work harder to get to know them... she was getting along with Tacien well enough.
"You ought to get together with Nayarath and have contests." A glaring competition with a dragon whose eye the size of his head might by a little unfair, but Nayarath would certainly enjoy it.
Hopefully they would change. It happened every hatching to plenty of Candidates, but Kora still hated to see those who hadn't Impressed trudge of the Sands. Having it happen to people she knew even slightly made it worse; she remembered Kari, who had talked so much about how she wouldn't mind if she hadn't Impressed... but then she hadn't, and it had affected her.
It was rather ironic. Candidates needed to have at least some belief that they would Impress.
Kora frowned. "We need a WeyrlingMaster, but you need a dragon for that. We have K'laon standing in right now, but a lot of people aren't that pleased with a Greenrider in the position." They forgot that he was the oldest rider in Nyocia, and knew far more about the duty than anyone else. It was true that that hardly contested his joking attitude, but he did still share wisdom. "In the lower caverns, there's nothing big. Common tasks, cooking, cleaning, managing the beasts." She hesitated.
"We could actually use a manager for the herdbeasts... people don't like sticking with it, since Nayarath is always coming in and terrorizing the herds." The picture Kora had formed of Tacien didn't really include him working among dung and dirt. "But she's the only real problem there. There's not a lot to do, and the beasthandlers wouldn't like just anyone coming in."
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Post by Sketchy on Feb 7, 2011 20:24:45 GMT -5
"Oh, I imagine she'd enjoy that too much. Dragons have a sense of humor that I very much appreciate, in general. But it is a little similar to my own, sometimes." Perhaps he'd spent too much time around his mother's green, who also had an interesting sense of the comical.
Tacien knew how crushed Dacien had been after his last failed Impression. He also knew that his brother hid it well, but it did
He laughed. "WeyrlingMaster would take turns! I was thinking more in the short-term, in a turn or so." Listening for a moment, he shrugged. "My father is a tanner. I do have some experience with herdbeasts." He rubbed the back of his neck for a second, thinking about it. "I think I'd prefer a dragon, honestly, but we can't all get exactly what we want." Tacien was okay with that aspect of life. You got what you worked for, and he worked hard. But even that didn't always pan out.
"And I'm sure Nayarath just wants to be friends," he murmured absently.
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