Wandering in thought (open)

[ShadowReine]

Kari nodded. "The records I've read indicated that a full strength Weyr would generally have three to five queens, but it also depended on the senior and her willingness to tolerance juniors."

And back then, of course, they would all have been golds. "Of course, violets don't lay quite as many eggs as golds do, not being so large."

She guessed that was the reason, anyway. Green firelizards clutched, but never many eggs. Barreds clutched a little more, then violets, then golds. There had never been a sky firelizard. She wondered if it simply had to do with how many eggs could fit in the female's body as they developed.

[Sparrow]

Tirasha nodded. "Not that Nayarath's going to let more than five queens crowd the Weyr with her, even if they're smaller ones." That was a dragon who liked all the attention to be on her.

"Sometimes I feel like she's trying to compensate by how little attention Kora generates." Tirasha had seen the Weyrwoman around, had talked to her a few times when Y'xem was in the infirmary, but never to an extent worth anything. She seemed to just do her work and disappear, and ignore the talk that popped up about her.

Doing that, naturally, kept it to a minimum it since it removed all the excitement. Not that Tirasha was particularly up-to-date on the Weyr gossip; she also preferred to keep out of it.

[ShadowReine]

Kari smiled. "Kora's nice. But you're right, she doesn't seem to come out that often."

A quiet leader. But then maybe that was a good way to be, rather than be flashy like some of the other riders...although it often seemed the greens had the flash.

She turned her thoughts to green dragons. She knew how likely it was that she would partner one, and it was time she accepted that they were as good as barreds. Or queens.

A violet dragonet would be a good addition to the Weyr...but who would she choose? Kari was eligible. So, perhaps, she had to accept *that* possibility as well.

[Sparrow]

"You've met her?" Somehow Tirasha just couldn't picture her chatting with Candidates. Maybe she gave them pep talks or something when they didn't Impress. That would be weird.

Associating with the Weyrwoman at all was a bit weird. Tirasha wasn't the greatest at dealing with people of higher rank. Particularly when they were there because of something they had absolutely no control over. Kora could easily be doing Tirasha's laundry- except for that Nayarath had picked her.

The whole dragon thing didn't make a whole lot of sense to Tirasha. It gave her food and a bed though, so she had little choice but to stick around and just live with it.

[ShadowReine]

"Yeah. But only once, and it was a while ago. She's been far too busy since."

The dragon thing...well. It had to make sense to Kari, or she wouldn't have accepted Search. "But she IS quite a woman. I can sort of see what Nayarath sees in her. Sort of."

Who really knew? Dragons could make inexplicable decisions at times, like the female bronzerider. Or some of the other riders she'd met who didn't *quite* gel with the expectations normally centered around the hue of their companions.

[Sparrow]

The last Tirasha had heard of Kora- past everything that was being said about Nayarath's clutch currently- had included some sort of fiasco with D'mas. Apparently they weren't supposed to talk about that though.

"Well, maybe she'll get some sort of life-threatening injury one day and I'll get the chance to get to know her." Oh, the plight of a Healer. Always befriending people on their deathbed.

"But I think we're better off with me never getting the chance." Tirasha didn't have an enormous amount of respect for Kora, but she had to admit, the woman knew how to keep a Weyr running. She wasn't sure she would be able to say the same about Inolyn, if Jorindath's behavior was anything to go by.

[ShadowReine]

Kari nodded. "Yes, given the junior gold left...not that we didn't *need* a second Weyr. Hopefully Nayarath will lay another gold at some point. Although another violet would be a lot of help, too."

But violets could not lay golds, and they really couldn't afford to *lose* the gold queens. She supposed if that happened they would have to hope the other Weyr had a gold to transfer. "The violets are kind of...cuter. I suppose it's their color. It's so cheerful."

And there might be one hatching very soon. Dragon babies were more awkward, than really, properly *cute*, though.

[Sparrow]

All the jargon about how instinct always drove Golds to rise when it was needed and to be caught by the male capable of siring the best clutch had been thrown by Wuith's catch. Tirasha was pretty sure that they wouldn't be getting a Gold by him, and, as the rumors went, Kora wasn't particularly pleased with the change in Weyrleader either.

"I imagine she will. But the ways of Golds sure don't make much sense."

"Purple is more fun than gold," Tirasha agreed. They weren't metallic, had none of that glint. It was just color. She looked in the direction of the hatching sands. "I sure hope Nayarath's not listening to this." She probably couldn't hear, but it probably wouldn't bode well for the Candidate if she could.

[ShadowReine]

Kari laughed. "Well, really, I don't think Nayarath would appreciate cute. I think she'd prefer 'beautiful'. She's above cute."

Kari actually rather suspected that the gold would argue that greens were 'cute' and golds were 'magnificent'. "Besides, she is a gorgeous dragon. You have to say that, really. Whether she might be listening or not."

Kari considered it for a long moment. "Maybe a tan can sire a gold anyway. We don't know for sure, as one's never flown a gold before. There could be all kinds of odd stuff in this clutch. Maybe even another new color."

[Sparrow]

"That's true." Nothing the size of a dragon could be called cute. Magnificent, gorgeous, in some cases ominous, but Tirasha would be hard pressed to call anything but the smallest Green hatchling cute.

They were usually more on the annoying side anyway.

Tirasha shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know that we need another new color to keep track of though." They really hadn't even needed the initial new ones, but they were kind of fun. More, even though it wasn't really the dragons' fault, would just feel like overkill. "I think they ought to give the flitters a chance to catch up before popping out more new colors."

[ShadowReine]

Kari laughed. "Yeah. We don't have any charcoal flits yet...one of those would be cute. Not that I want another flit. Period. Two is plenty."

She glanced over at where her two were still playing flitter tag with Tianthe, then back to Tirasha. "It's not like we have the choice, though. If there are more, there are more. If not...you're right. We have more than enough colors. What I do wonder is why there are none of the new colors in the whers."

Now *there* was a mystery to get one's mind around. Firelizards and dragons both had new colors. Whers, despite being close kin to dragons, did not.

[Sparrow]

"I agree." Tirasha had had her two for years, and had no plans to ever get more. Well, unless one of them- Tianthe- died. It was useful to have a couple to run errands, although it would be a pain to get a new flitter to the level of obedience she had managed with her current pair. Maybe not.

Willow was at least twice as capable as his sister anyway. Tirasha followed Kari's gaze over to where the others were playing. Probably well more than twice.

Tirasha shrugged. "All that living in the dark removed the need for bright colors." Excepting the Charcoals, all of the new colors were at least bright-ish. "They're more isolated, although I don't know how much that has to do with it. I don't think the new colors are a disease."

If it were... well, some wherhandlers had flitts. It would have spread to them by now.

[ShadowReine]

Kari considered. "No. A disease reduces your ability to survive. All of the new colors are completely healthy...I hear there was some question about the white because he was so small when hatched, but..."

None of the new dragons were, in any way shape or form, *sickly*. Just different. "It's just a change. And I'm not going to complain about it. Of course, I suppose, if they had never showed up, I'd know no better." And there would be more greens if there were no new colors...

[Sparrow]

"Not necessarily. Sometimes they can be beneficial, in some aspects at least." If the theories about Shador's murder were right, then Kelth's color had been a factor in her death... although saying that was a serious stretch. It hadn't affected her, it had affected someone else. Mostly Tirasha just didn't like the idea of some Candidate arguing a theory she hadn't even made.

"Mutations are perfectly likely to reduce your ability to survive too, and these new ones in the dragons easily could. None are more than a few Turns old, except Wuith and Kelth, and Kelth's dead." Not by her own means, but she was out of the running. "We don't know much about it."

No dragonrider would sign up their dragon as study subject though, no matter how little time it ended up actually taken. It most likely wasn't anything, but if it was... they wouldn't be finding out until that new sides decided to show themselves.

[ShadowReine]

Kari considered that. "They aren't, are they. But they certainly seem healthy enough and the violets are laying good clutches."

There was a horrible idea...what if she did Impress, and then the dragon died young, leaving her empty and bereft? She knew about how the dragonless ended up...and that was the lucky one. She shook her head. "Not much we can do about it. Personally, I think they're here to stay and here for the duration." She wondered if the bronze that had chosen a female rider was also mutated, just in the head, not his color...so that his sense of who he should Impress was off.

Maybe.

[Sparrow]

"They do. I don't actually think anything's wrong with them." It had just... come to mind, and wasn't a possibility to be taken lightly. Unlikely, but if something ever popped up among the new colors, it was a reason.

"But Wuith's been doing fine, and obviously Nayarath sees something in him to let him catch." Something more than a lack of Bronzes, which was a problem that didn't seem like it would be easily fixed by a Tan sire.

It had already been said that this was the first time a Tan had caught a Gold though, and who knew what would happen. Hopefully good things.

[ShadowReine]

"Supposedly queens choose the best male. And it might not just be the dragons that influence. Especially, surely, with a leadership flight."

Nayarath would not choose a male who could not lead the Weyr, she had far more sense than that, and that required the right pairing of both dragon and rider. Or why would the Weyr trust something so important to the whims of dragons?

Because, she supposed, weyrfolk and riders were used to trusting them. Used to relying on their instincts. As she must.

[Sparrow]

"I guess I just don't know how they can focus on that when they're up there flying at top speed." Tirasha looked over to where Tianthe and the others were playing. She didn't put a single thought into her flights, but Golds, especially Gold dragons, had to. "Lots of practice, I guess."

Just how a rider and dragon pair could focus enough to flame Thread and avoid it at the same time was beyond her. Obviously, there were reasons she wasn't a rider, and only dealt with grounded dragons.

Most everything about dragons was utterly beyond Tirasha, except maybe how their muscles worked and how to keep their hides healthy. It was good enough for her.

[ShadowReine]

Wave flitted back from the game to land on Kari's shoulder. She absently scritched the blue's breast.

"Practice. Yeah. I suppose only a queenrider *really* knows what goes through their minds, though." And she had already learned that asking riders to explain anything would get her a 'You'll know when you Impress' or similar.

"I suppose most of it is instinct, though." How much of *human* relationships was instinct? She did wonder about that. "But then, you look at some of the pairings that form...B'can and Inolyn, say." They hadn't been together, she had heard, before the flight, but were all but inseparable now...

[Sparrow]

Tianthe was a little disappointed to see Wave leave, but the timing was good. That old stitch in her wing was starting to hurt, and she flew back to settle on Tirasha's shoulder and nurse it.

"She's the only one who'd ever know what's going through their mind." Tirasha was quite content not knowing every one of Nayarath or Jorindath's thoughts- she doubted either would be very worth her listening constantly to. Vain insults or some sort of regal giddiness? She could do without both.

Instinct was always an important factor. "I don't think that was instinct, I think it was just Jorindath trying to get Inolyn away from that Bronzerider." As the rumors went, things had ended up going wrong between them. "They just got lucky when she decided Apolloth was the next best choice. And there are so many times where it doesn't work out... like Kora, and, well, anyone."

Flights might spark a relationship, but she didn't think queens (of course Greens weren't even worth considering) were heavily on the lookout for a steady mate for their rider. It probably made things easier, but that was a lot of things to keep track of.