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Post by ShadowReine on Jun 5, 2011 12:39:40 GMT -5
Moving from the labyrinth to the Hold did not bother Silia. The reason for it did.
No wherhandler should be put in a position of having to even think of releasing his beast...and if that happened, she would be angry. Which would make Silisk angry. But for now? She was exploring the area they were setting aside for the dens.
It would need a fair bit of cleaning...but the Hold had drudges who could help with that, and a lot of it could be done by kids as part of their chores, once lessons were dealt with.
But it would be serviceable. "We'll need curtains, but we can probably bring those from the labyrinth."
Silisk...was not listening. He had found a rather large tunnelsnake and pounced on it, and was now munching on it slowly, jaws creeping along its length. A snack for the blue, but Silia wasn't about to complain. Killing tunnelsnakes was to be encouraged.
"But we'll need sands, too, if any of the greens manage to clutch." With no queen, it was less urgent, but then, maybe they would get a queen.
Now that would be the perfect solution...to find Itunas a woman with some Blood bonded to a queen wher, but she didn't see it happening...too strict criteria to be likely.
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Post by Sparrow on Jun 20, 2011 13:25:17 GMT -5
Lyanni was more than happy to move back into a Hold. She had grown up in a Hold. She could very well have run a Hold, were people to look past her older brother and the major inconvenience that was Lyask. Basically, it wasn't happening, but Lyanni could live with that. At least she was out of that dungeon the other wherhandlers had such a soft spot for.
It made perfect sense to live here instead of there, considering much of the work was done at and around Danac. But the reason for coming here, like with many others, Lyanni was not so fond of, though perhaps for different reasons.
Itunas was a responsible person. He had been over her for a long time, and it was no problem to keep things that way. But being the leader of a pack of whers was no reason for someone to become the leader of a Hold full of people, with many crafts to keep track of, dragonriders to deal with, and...
And it was just frustrating to see such an opportunity turned over to him. In Danac, the initial bloodline had been lost, so why hadn't the replacement chosen been someone from another Hold, someone who actually had some sort of Blood and training and experience?
And if they wanted to pick someone from the wherhandlers, they could have at least picked her. She had all of that.
Instead she and Lyask were stuck setting up in a new locale and... overhearing someone contemplate getting eggs out of one of the Labyrinth's Greens.
Lyask growled low at Silisk as she walked past him and Lyanni gave Silia dry look. "I kind of doubt we'll see any of them managing that anytime soon."
The Labyrinth's Greens hadn't proved themselves very fertile so far, and a change of setting probably wouldn't help that.
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Post by ShadowReine on Jun 21, 2011 17:01:19 GMT -5
"Sadly, likely true. We'll probably end up having to buy eggs." Which could be expensive.
Silisk glared at the green. Why was she growling at him? He hadn't done anything to her...well he did now, growling back.
Maybe Lyask was proddy. Some greens got snippy at that time, although it wasn't something the blue understood. Beyond...when she ran he would chase her and try his best to catch her. He doubted his handler would mind.
His wings lifted a little, and then he decided to ignore the green, in favor of nudging his handler, eyeridge tilted. Take my mind off her with a scritch, his gesture said as clear as any words.
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Post by Sparrow on Jun 22, 2011 12:01:50 GMT -5
"Probably." If queens had been hard to come by in the Labyrinth, where they would practically get a rule as strong as any queen dragon's, getting them to a Hold wasn't going to be easy.
Then, it may just have been Sabre and Sabresk that kept the other Golds and their handlers away. They had hardly been the friendliest pair. Lyanni had been happy to see them go.
Lyask just liked to growl and frustrate other whers. And how disappointing to see the Blue put that out of his mind and go beg for scratches instead. After an annoyed snort, she trotted a little further on and lay down against a wall.
Lyanni looked around. This was where they would be living? "So, what do you think?" It was less than glamorous, but then, the Labyrinth had been too. Anywhere a wherhandler was expected to live was probably going to be. At least this, unlike the Labyrinth, could be fixed up some. She would get on that soon enough.
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Post by ShadowReine on Jun 27, 2011 16:39:27 GMT -5
"Not bad, although it needs a bit of work. I don't think anyone's lived down here in Turns. We'll need good, dark curtains to split off the handlers areas so we can light glows without annoying our whers."
Silisk...accepted scritches, with an arch look at the green. Good. He'd discomfited her. Which meant he had 'won' the informal competition between the two...and Silisk liked to be the one who won these things. "And more furniture, of course. I don't think they've had a full run of whers at the Hold in a very long time."
But Itunas would not, she suspected, stint them what they needs.
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Post by Sparrow on Jun 29, 2011 9:25:02 GMT -5
Lyanni nodded. This place had definitely been let be for some time... but it was still better than the Labyrinth. It had probably not been lived in centuries, if people had dwelt in it at all before. Nothing but a run for tunnelsnakes... which was kind of what this place had become too. Obviously the whers were already on that though.
"Not ever, I believe. Danac is a pretty young Hold." It had been put together the same time as Nyocia Weyr, which hadn't been much over a decade ago. If she remembered the history, few whers had ever actually lived here. The Labyrinth had been found nearby, and that had been picked as a 'better' location.
Weyr structure didn't work out great for the whers though. Particularly not when they couldn't hold on to a queen.
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Post by ShadowReine on Jun 29, 2011 10:38:41 GMT -5
Silia nodded. "Well. Somebody should make a list of everything we need and...does Itunas have a steward yet, do you know?"
One was not technically supposed to bother the Lord Holder with such things, that was what the steward was for, but Itunas was different. She was finding it hard not to think of him as the leader of the run, not the holder.
But he had been the only good, strong candidate they had been able to find. The young bluehandler was very glad she herself had no trace of Blood...or they might have picked her. Or put pressure on her to marry Itunas which, given she preferred females, would have been a real drag.
The dream was to find a goldhandler with blood who could wed him. That would...be the best solution, but there were so few goldhandlers and none wanted to stay here.
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Post by Sparrow on Jun 29, 2011 13:35:05 GMT -5
Lyanni shrugged. "I doubt it. I'd imagine his first focus is going to be getting us settled." Who would he ask anyway? He didn't know anyone in the Hold- as far as she knew, anyway- and she doubted any wherhandlers were about to step up.
She would, but she did have plenty of work to do already, getting this place prepared. Plus the Holders would probably be happier with a steward from the Hold.
"I don't know how much we'll be seeing of the Holders, but I suppose we ought to keep an eye out for people to suggest." Itunas would have a lot of work to do right now. While finding an assistant would lighten the workload considerably, it wasn't necessarily an easy task. "Did Teval have a steward?" He should have; what Lord Holder would survive without one?
Then again... well, Teval hadn't.
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Post by ShadowReine on Jun 30, 2011 18:35:49 GMT -5
"I'd assume so, but Itunas may not want to keep the same person in the position. I don't know. I haven't lived in a Hold in turns."
Since well before she bonded Silisk, in fact. "Most of the holders are likely not to want too much to do with us. We'll have to take steps to reassure them that the only things our whers will eat are the herdbeast specifically assigned to us."
Which with Silisk was possibly a question. Anyone who directly threatened Silia might well turn into wher chow, but then, if they were that stupid, they deserved it.
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Post by Sparrow on Jun 30, 2011 19:07:02 GMT -5
"It would at least be a start." Even if Itunas didn't keep him, it would be someone familiar with the job. A good steward would be willing to help, even if part of that meant looking for his own replacement. She had heard... things about Teval that made her doubt he would have had anyone very reliable in place though.
"Mmm-hmm." It felt like such a waste, to move back into the Hold knowing that a lot of Holders would want nothing to do with her. That aspect, at least, made sense when it came to why the wherhandlers had been living in the Labyrinth.
At least they could trust the average Holder to, even with the reassurances Silia spoke of, have the sense to leave the whers be. Lyask generally did a pretty good job of keeping people away, but if someone were brainless enough to decide she was all bark and no bite, they would be in trouble.
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Post by ShadowReine on Jul 1, 2011 18:23:50 GMT -5
Silia rubbed Silisk's eyeridge again. "They think we're almost as debauched as dragonriders...and in my case they'd be right!"
She grinned at the other girl. Her preferences were no secret around the labyrinth. "Then again, given how their former Lord Holder acted, we're an improvement. I hear Shador was far from the only woman who saw the inside of his private chambers...so it wasn't just her."
Shador, after all, had been notorious. Silia had to assume she took a lot of trips Between to avoid any inconvenient results of her liaisons.
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Post by Sparrow on Jul 2, 2011 11:53:19 GMT -5
"Hmm." That was one of those things that simply did not interest Lyanni. Particularly not when it was a girl talking to her.
"I hear it was more than women that saw in there." Which was really what made her question what sort of person Teval would choose for a steward. What she had heard about him made her think it was very likely that it was just some lover he wanted to have at easy reach. That definitely wouldn't be the type of person Itunas was looking for.
Overall, it sounded like it would be hard not to be an improvement from Teval.
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Post by ShadowReine on Jul 3, 2011 19:46:18 GMT -5
Silia shrugged. "So, he was a slut. Doesn't necessarily mean he was incompetent, although I haven't heard much good said about the man."
And not just about his preferences and tendencies. "But, well. It's only our problem to a point." Silia was hoping the Hold would run smoothly and accept them, but she knew both of those things were, indeed, a lot to ask for.
And running smoothly was probably more important, if she was honest and professional about the matter.
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Post by Sparrow on Jul 3, 2011 20:28:17 GMT -5
"It's hardly behavior I would want to see in a Lord Holder." It wasn't behavior she could respect at all. A leader had to have standards. Part of being in charge was being an example.
Lyask snorted suddenly, waking herself with some surprise from her nap. She dragged herself to her feet, only to drop on her rear again next to Lyanni. A few begrudging scratches were awarded Lyask after a few moments of shoving her nose into her keeper's side.
"Not so much anyone's problem anymore." Teval wasn't, anyway, but he had left a big bucket of them in his wake.
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Post by ShadowReine on Jul 4, 2011 8:40:30 GMT -5
Silia shrugged. "I don't think who he beds is such a big problem. I do think that letting the entire Hold KNOW who he's bedding is, though."
Lord Holders were supposed to be refined and discreet, but Silia was glad she was in no danger of being tapped for such a, in her mind, hideous duty. She was a wherhandler and would remain nothing more than that...and anyone who tried to push her into being more than that might well discover just how tough minded she could be.
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Post by Sparrow on Jul 4, 2011 11:39:31 GMT -5
From what Lyanni had seen, when people slept around a lot, everyone else generally seemed to find out. It was simply not a good idea. Part of being a bedhopper was that they were pretty obvious about it.
It seemed to be a moot point with Silia though. She had already admitted to similar behavior. Lyanni rolled her shoulders and looked around again. "We need to get on organizing the cleanup of this place." Nothing could be moved in until all the dust and cobwebs were cleared out.
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Post by ShadowReine on Jul 5, 2011 10:51:09 GMT -5
Silia nodded. "Wonder if Itunas will lend us some of the servants and cleaning staff to help. I don't fancy doing this all myself and Silisk isn't going to be any help."
The blue snorted. Then he saw another tunnelsnake and padded towards it.
"Well, except in convincing the local vermin that this part of the hold is thoroughly off-limits," she added, clearly amused at her blue. "You know you're probably using more energy catching them than you're getting from eating them, right?"
Silisk...ignored her.
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Post by Sparrow on Jul 5, 2011 21:51:13 GMT -5
"I suspect Itunas will be lending us every bit of help he can get away with." Lyanni smiled a little. There was an advantage to having a Lord Holder they were well acquainted with. "But I still plan to do my fair share of work."
Lyask, not so much. She wasn't even going to take part in Silisk's tunnelsnake hunt, although that was likely more because she didn't want to split a kill with a Blue than because she wasn't at all interested.
Lyanni gave her wher a look that went entirely missed, considering Lyask was likely much too busy being grumpy about how she hadn't noticed the tunnelsnake first. "Lyask's a lazy old lady. I don't know that she'll even help with that."
Snort. That got her attention, but certainly didn't get her moving.
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Post by ShadowReine on Jul 6, 2011 9:31:06 GMT -5
Silia laughed. "Only stirs for her dinner and when pushed, eh?"
She could see that the green was not in the best of moods, but Silisk did not seem to care. He caught the tunnelsnake and swallowed it basically whole.
"Yeah. Definitely not worth the energy of catching." Of course, he was likely doing it to please her rather than to feed.
"Which reminds me, need to ask Itunas which of the herds we can and can't hunt. Silisk IS starting to get hungry."
Dragonkin did not eat that often, but ate plenty when they did.
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Post by Sparrow on Jul 8, 2011 18:46:42 GMT -5
Lyask was not sure she liked what she was hearing, and to prove it she lay back down and tucked her head back by a foreleg. Take that. Now one of her ears was slightly blocked against her body.
"Precisely."
Whers were not the smartest of creatures. At least Silisk was doing better than Lyask.
"We should. Any idea where he could be?" They could still get food outside the Hold, like they had done before, but having herds to feed them on would be a lot simpler. Lyask would appreciate that, although Lyanni wasn't sure how much it would benefit her.
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