The Bane of the Beasts [Open]

[Sparrow]

Nayarath had actually finished feeding, and now the Gold was resting on a wide ledge, absorbing the last of the heat the sun would share before setting for the evening. Kora wasn’t sure how long she had been out here waiting for her dragon to even get to this point, but far more time than Nayarath needed to spend hunting had definitely passed. What was it that made her feel like she had to run all the herdbeasts to exhaustion before she could eat them? Had the animals the stamina, Kora worried sometimes that Nayarath would chase the bovines in circles until even she was out of energy and finally collapsed in the midst of them, snatched up a few, and fell asleep right in the pasture.

It was actually a comical thing to imagine, although Kora definitely wouldn’t relish the bath Nayarath would demand after. Lying in the fields meant lying in herdbeast dung, anyways.

I would never do such a thing. Nayarath managed a horrified tone despite her sleep-slurred voice. Lots of food combined with warm rocks and a warmer sun put the Gold to sleep in no time; Kora thinking about things that could embarrass her apparently woke her up again.

I don’t recall any loss of permission to think about it though. Kora laughed and exchanged a smirk with Squeak. Lilac and Soot, as they often liked to do, were down in the pastures hunting for the scraps of Nayarath’s meal.

You don’t have permission anymore. Never did. I’m going back to sleep.

Kora rolled her eyes and leaned her head back against the rock wall rising up behind the smaller ledge Nayarath had left the Weyrwoman on. “I don’t suppose it’s a good thing that she can keep her own rider in the dark about things.” Squeak, as expected, had no reply, but he nudged Kora’s hand. The Gravel had calmed down immensely as he grew; when living with Nayarath, he really didn’t have any choice but to do so, anyways. Of course, now all he ever thought about were pets and scratches, which were only a small step above his original personality. Still, Kora indulged him.

“Maybe I should have had Nayarath send up an announcement that everyone’s free to eat again before she fell asleep,” Kora murmured, glancing down at Squeak again. As of late, he had been the main recipient for everything she said. It was a little embarrassing… but no one else was listening, obviously, and if they didn’t know she didn’t really need to worry about it. “Lots of easy meals now, with the herdbeasts already lying near death.”

It was no question that all the beasthandlers at Nyocia despised Nayarath.

[Jenth]

Bronze Kayth sat up on the heights with the watchdragon on duty, but it wasnt perticularly the Weyr he was watching at this moment. Nayarath was playing with her food again, pleased how gracefully she excersied her form. Tiring one food constently wasnt perticularly a good thing though, making their meat stringier faster but He and no other male would ever complain about this to her. They did not dare, and as of late the egg-heavy Jorindath found it a relief since she was now having problems catching her food so close to laying. While the Weyr waited excitedly for another queen's clutch, one however were preparing for the mating flight of another.

"You really shouldn't let her do that. She might be a queen and does what she wants, she should know better." D'mas walked up the stairs, knowing just where to find Kora. Stampeding animals werent exactly a descrete way of letting the weyr know the senior queen was on the feeding grounds.

((ran out of time, have to do >.<))

[Sparrow]

Kora sighed. "She does know better, it's just... she enjoys it so much, I can't bring myself to stop her. And I hear Jorindath appreciates it, and if Nayarath is inadvertently helping her out, I figure that's a good thing." Once the Violet's eggs had hatched, they wouldn't have that excuse, but she may as well use it while she could.

Considering Nayarath's usual dislike for other queens when they were clutching, anything that could put her in a better light was probably a good thing too.

"How's Kayth?" She had seen the Bronze watching Nayarath and wondered briefly if he had any plans to join her in the play, but obviously not. And hearing D'mas now, she imagined the Bronze probably hadn't had much good to think about it, past perhaps admiring his queen. It seemed only Tyrth dared join the Gold when she hunted. Which did the other dragons want more? To avoid getting their riders in trouble with the beasthandlers or to get the favor of Nayarath? Hopefully the former.

It was probably a good thing. If all the Tans and Bronzes came down every time Nayarath decided to play with her food, she definitely wouldn't be able to get away with it.

[Jenth]

"Kayth is in good strength, he just likes to sit up there. I think being Nayarath's mate first thing he's ever taken serious, second to fighting Thread." Everyone at the Weyr knew it was dragon instinct to kill thread. There was no stopping their blind rage for the life-killing menes, but talk of Fall wasnt exactly what he came up her for.

"Nayarath is looking as fine as always at any rate. Her last clutch are almost ready to start practise flying with the wings. How is she taking having to give her hatching sands to her daughter?" It was no secret how protective the gold was over, well... everything! Her males, her hatching sands, her feeding pens, her Weyr! Its almost a surprise she hasnt tried to chase even the greens off. That would have made his job hard, the greens could move more easily then then the others weither in fighting or various jobs.

[Sparrow]

"Well, she appreciates it." Kora smiled. A good mate left Nayarath with a lot less to complain about, even if she had no solid standing on whether she had plans to keep him. If the Gold had found one, apparently she could find more. Kora didn't like the potential for experiments much though.

She couldn't help but laugh as D'mas finished his question. "Oh, she doesn't have much to say on that. It definitely bothers her, but I think she can't help but like Jorindath a little bit, and she seems to like her choice of mate too." Kora knew Nayarath hadn't been too fond of the Bronze whose rider Inolyn had been with previous to the Flight. "Having a couple pluses apparently goes a long way."

"Still though, it's hard for her to share. If she could, I bet she'd Rise the the second Jorindath's eggs finished hatching, just to get the attention back on her." She gave Squeak a tired scratch. "I seriously hope not though."

[Jenth]

"Finished? She would fly the moment Jorindath began to hum!" D'mas corrected with a laugh. Nayarath would hate him for speaking so frankly about her had she not been sleeping. It seemed everything he did reflected back on his bronze, and Kayth would hate to lose favor with his queen. Such a fragile balance...

"So what do you think? I've heard everyone's thoughts, whats your guess on the expecting clutch?" It was a fine pairing, and while no clutch was without its flaws and runts there would no doubt be many fine beasts. Equally good candidates would have to be found, but the dragons always knew who to pick. All would be well.

((want to write more, but too sick to think...))

[Sparrow]

Kora laughed. "Oh, probably." Probably not good for any new hatchlings though. Flat out rude too, but it was still fun to joke about, especially when the Gold wasn't listening. If she were awake... well, it would probably be best not to bring it up. They didn't want to give her any particularly bad ideas.

She shrugged. "I'm hoping for more of those Teals and Charcoals, but I feel like it was a bit unsettling in Kelth's last clutch when there were none of the original colors. Apolloth's from one of her clutches though, so I imagine he'd carry the genes." It was interesting to think about what a difference parentage made. But Ekirith was his father, and with a Brown in the bloodline... well, it seemed like the Tan ought to be capable of producing nearly any color.

"I'd guess more eggs than Kelth lays though, at least." Kora grinned. Jorindath was much larger than Kelth, so surely capable of clutching a few more. From the last few looks she'd gotten at the Violet, it definitely looked like the egg-heavy queen had a big clutch in mind too.

[Jenth]

"Kelth and Wuith were both the first of their colors, the undilated mutations in their blood must have reacted..." It was possible, no other pairing might cause it to ever happen again. Once again the violet and tan seemed dejected to be a breed apart. The dragon race was changing forever.

Kayth dropped down from the heights, gliding in to join the two at the hatching grounds. Not wanting to disturb the sleeping queen he land several ledges away and hopped closer. The sun was getting high, D'mas didn't have to look up as the summer heat was starting to radiate from the stone they stood on. "It might be nice to get out of the sun before we start to fry. We can grab some lunch, I want your opinion one my ideas for new Wing arrangements."

Offering his arm to help her up onto Kayth's back, the bronze rumbled a greeting to the Weyrwoman.

[Sparrow]

"Maybe. I imagine we'll see soon enough though." Kora smiled. Jorindath looked ready to drop her eggs any day, and the hatching sands were plenty hot enough for her to do so. It would still be some time after that before they hatched, but every step was a step closer. "I don't know about their mutations being 'diluted' or not though. Kelth and Wuith came from a Gold. It seems to me that a hatchling from an actual Violet and Tan would have a purer, if that's how we put it, mutation, and that would be why more mutations showed up at all."

Jorindath, like Kelth, came from a Gold. Apolloth was the only difference in this breeding, but Kora was feeling fairly confident.

"Sounds like a plan." Kora scooped Squeak up under one arm- the kagen couldn't get away from here easily alone- and stood. "Hopefully Nayarath won't mind me disappearing on her." After a soft greeting to Kayth she took D'mas' arm and mounted the Bronze. Squeak huddled close to her chest; despite feeling this was preferable to being left behind, the kagen was not fond of dragonriding, especially not on dragon's other than his most-familiar Nayarath.

[Jenth]

D'mas swung up behind Kora, an arm wrapped around her. He would have held her tighter had he not wanted to squish the kagan she carried. "Nayarath is a big girl, she's no hatchling that cant survive without you watching her all the time." Many times the bronzerider had caught himself thinking of the queen as nothing but a spoilt child, but that might reflect on Kora's raising so he kept his mouth shut. She did her best at all times, a proud and strong woman, it couldn't be easy being bonded to such a difficult dragon.

Kayth dropped them at the lower caverns entrance, D'mas helping Kora since her hands were filled. A drudge came out to serve them, a perk of being Weyrleaders but it was still a little early for lunch and the tables were still quite empty. "To business, I think the wings need to be reshuffled. So far they have been set out according to size, therefore colors, but this causes some problems. It leaves too large gaps for thread"

[Sparrow]

Kora started to say that wasn't what she meant- her mention of Nayarath had been meant more as a joke (the Gold minded everything, anyways), but she had always been particularly inept at joking. Then Kayth took off and her halfhearted words were swallowed in the noise of his wingbeats. The flight from the feeding grounds to the lower caverns entrance wasn’t long, but it was enough to make it hardly worth it to try and repeat herself.

Once she was off Kayth, Kora set Squeak down and the kagen dropped onto all fours for his slower walk-hop and followed them inside. Kora focused on D'mas, and she nodded as he finished his first statement. "I definitely agree. What do you have in mind?" Although the pyramid-like design (excepting the queen’s wing, which couldn’t be easily moved) of their current wing setup worked well enough, it wasn't extremely efficient. Most of the Thread was at that smallest point, being dealt with by the least agile of the dragons.

It was true that the smaller dragons couldn't fly as high as the Bronzes and Tans, which was the main reason for the current set up, but if D'mas had a good enough plan in mind, Kora definitely wouldn't agree with something potentially better. They would have some remodeling to do with the new colors too.

[Jenth]

D'mas was please Kora agreed. Wing assignment wasn't really a part of the duties the Weyrwoman had to oversee, but considering the practise, grumbles and possible injuries that might occur with the changes to fighting Fall she had at least the right to be informed. Even the sleeping gold couldn't complain about that, once again being watched over by Kayth from outside.

"I've spoken the L'han and a number of riders for ideas and so far this seems the most popluar. The larger dragons will be split into three sperate wings on various levels. For each level we have two wings of our smaller dragons shadow the main wing and pick up on the gaps." It would mean smaller wings till the population grew a little more, but with 4 queens it was only a matter of time till they reached full fighting strength. The roles of leadership and feelings of responcibility and worth would also be spread around and not kept to the larger dragons.

"I would like to start assigning new wings and practising as soon as possible"

[Sparrow]

“I’m imagining size will still have some effect on where they fly though.” More Browns, and maybe Teals, depending on how they turned out, being the ‘shadows’ of the highest wings, and the Greens still mostly flying lowest. They already had limited stamina, and tossing them into higher altitudes and thinner air than they were used to would be no help.

Kora paused, frowning thoughtfully. “The new colors would work well with this; they do a lot to even out the sizes.” It was interesting that even with the Violets, Tans, and Barreds, Browns had hardly been shifted, and except for the smallest Tans, still mostly stood alone in size range and use. The Sky and Teal dragonets were turning out to be very similar to them however.

“Will new wingleaders be needed?” Kora wasn’t sure any of their current ones needed to be changed, but this plan sounded like it would have… nine. Or else three, but two wingseconds per wing, in charge of the shadow wings, but once they all got big enough to need them, maybe not. “Or any of our current ones changed?” Of course D’mas was doing well, and J’ran she trusted, but Kora often wondered about K’laon. How a Greenrider had ended up a Wingleader, no matter how old and experienced, still escaped her.

K’laon just got along with people, although his charisma was also a bit of a mystery. “They’re all doing well,” she added quickly, “I guess it’s just that it wouldn’t make much sense to have a Green leading a group of Bronzes and whatnot.” Or maybe she should just shut her mouth. D’mas was the one ultimately in charge of all the wings, anyways.

[Jenth]

"Well thats why we have so many of the smaller colors; barreds, blue, greens and the maybe a fewer of the smaller browns. Depending. With 2 shadow wings to a main means the smaller dragons only need to fight half a Fall." Half a Fall should be enough to get the most out of the smaller dragons too, also keeping a fresh second wave to pick up the slack of the tiring larger dragons.

Pulling out of his pocket a sheet of hide he handed it to her, a rough list of new wings. "The current leaders all maintain similar if not the same positions. Some may be missing, but its likely the list will change. The queens wing is also under your command and aditions can be added at your request."

((the list is long, PM you :3 ))

[Sparrow]

Kora nodded and looked over the list quietly. Everything looked like it could work out well enough, but... "You put Tyrth in the queen's wing?" The White dragon was as far from a queen as a dragon could get. "I'm sure he would be fine in the lower shadow wing." Not to mention much happier. Unless D'mas had plans to break the little dragon's enormous ego, it didn't strike her as a good idea.

"Other than that, I think it looks fine." Maybe a little touching up in the wings here and there, and she was a bit surprised to see R'mer in a Wingleader position... but then again, even if his dragon could be a little moody, his rider seemed solid enough.

It all depended on what others thought too. It sounded like D'mas had already been asking around, but what about when they saw the actual wing assignments? Likely a few people would want to be moved. But, for now, what the Weyrleader had come up with sufficed for Kora.

[Jenth]

"As i said, its only a rough list. Our numbers may be growing but we're still not at full strength so we need the wings to be able to work together without any arguement." So far so good. Sipping on his klah it felt like he had taken a small victory, the old record lists were outdated with gaps everywhere. Y'xem had really let himself go towards the end...

"I've put a lot of faith in some of our younger riders, i just hope i wont come to regret that." It felt funny, referring to his own weyrling class as 'younger riders'. But in his own defence he had risen above to lead them all, maybe the rest could step up the the plate.

"I'm sure you dont want to talk work while we're trying to eat. Any news fluttering about?"

[Sparrow]

Kora nodded. "Alright." D'mas had come up with this much more or less on his own, she could trust him to figure out the rest. It felt nice to be consulted though; she couldn't help but feel that they split for their separate duties as Weyrwoman and Weyrleader sometimes more than she liked.

Kora couldn't help but smirk at D'mas' reference to 'younger riders'. "Considering some of them have been riding as long as you, I hope so too." She could understand him feeling older though. From the moment she had Impressed Nayarath, she had been set apart from the rest, even if the moment had been slightly overshadowed by the appearance of Tans and a Violet queen. Suddenly becoming Weyrleader would be no different. "But seeing as we've yet to regret a certain Bronze Nayarath put some faith into, I'm feeling fairly confident." She smiled wanly.

And as for news? Kora hesitated, thinking about what she had heard lately. "Not much other than the usual. Most everyone's looking forward to Jorindath clutching, some kagen pups were found in some cook's room and quickly became pets, Flights continue to strain some relationships and help others." She laughed. "I don't suppose you've heard anything else?"

[Jenth]

"Fairly the same, a few arguements in the wings but nothing major. Havent heard from the Wher's in a while, and Inolyn now that she's bound to the weyr is really starting to worry for her sister. I'm planning to check on them personally, too much conflict had devided the whers and the dragons in the past." It might have mostly been for the fact of the previous goldhandler, but none the less she was now gone and Itunas was more then happy to leave that all in the past. D'mas didn't know what to expect to find but any word would at least put some minds at rest.

A barred flitt chirped cheerfully as she landed on the Weyrleaders shoulder, taking her common perch. Memory had been scarce these past few days since rising to mate, brown Eron more so in his bitter disappointment. "Oh! And this little girl will be clutching herself in the next couple of months."

[Sparrow]

“Mmm, yes.” Kora couldn’t help but feel slightly intimidated by the idea of visiting the wherhandlers. Maybe a lot of it was because of Sabre- thankfully gone now- but their whole lifestyle just seemed to go against the grain. They lived in a giant cave, for Faranth’s sake. She much preferred the open skies and sunlight the outside offered. But D’mas was right, it was still important to keep up good relations with the whers.

She smiled. “Oh, that’ll be fun. Who caught her?” She guessed it wasn’t Eron, due to the fact that he wasn’t around, but there was definitely no way Kora could keep track of all the fire-lizards in the Weyr too, so not knowing was plenty understandable.

[Jenth]

"Some bronze, seen him a few times but they like to fly off on their own." With so many around it was hard to tell one form another and who belonged to who. It was his job to keep track of dragons, not the minture pet versions. Bar his own of course, and as far as he was aware they didn't get themselves in to trouble.

"Actually, I saw one of the rogues a few days back. A green rider, I think she fancies J'ran." Kora probably already knew this though, Nayarath didnt like the rogues and this one he was sure in perticular. Liona and Isaith hadnt seemed to be trying to cause trouble and stayed only for an candlemark or more, but the Weyrleader was unsure how J'ran thought of it all.