Headed Out [Open]

[Sparrow]

It had been a good day so far for Kora. She had gotten through all her work in what felt like record time, and caught up with her friends among the weyrfolk while doing a little extra helping them out. It always felt good to be working hard; it was always satisfying to spend a long day being productive.

It also made relaxing afterwards that much better. With the dishes from many other people's dinners now cleared away, Kora had packed a few leftovers for herself and was headed down a tunnel towards the outside. She would meet up with Nayarath and they could spend the rest of the evening together. The fire-lizards and Squeak would come along too, of course, and they could make a little picnic out of what was left of the evening.

She wouldn't mind a little more company than her kagen and draconics either. Soot, when he wasn't sniffing longingly at the basket at his keeper's waist, helped keep an eye out for other rider's Kora knew that could join them. So far, no luck.

[ShadowReine]

It was quite the life Karisna had found herself living. She had gone from being just some random Candidate to Pern's newest queenrider.

And Fioloth, of course, insisted that was as it should be. The violet was right from her viewpoint. She had selected the perfect rider for her. Despite still being a weyrling, she had still taken on some of the queenrider duties. Seeing Kora ahead of her, though, she sped up a little. She'd snagged her own food, and while she was not sure she would be the senior's favored company? Really, she barely knew Kora, although she liked her.

She wanted to fix that before she graduated, if at all possible, and had to fly in the woman's wing.

[Sparrow]

Ah, there was someone. Hopefully Kora would hurry up and get to the eating part of this now. Soot chattered to Kora, then turned backwards on her shoulder and chattered to Kari. Yes, hurry. He was hungry.

Kora looked back. "You eaten yet? Soot and I were going to have some dinner outside, if you want to join us."

Tell her to bring Fioloth too.

I think that's probably given. Weyrlings didn't go many places without their dragons about, but she would mention it after Kari agreed, if she did. Kora had no problem with Nayarath wanting to visit with another queen, but bringing the Gold into the picture did have a tendency to make things seem forced.

[ShadowReine]

"I had the same thing in mind." Fioloth was, of course, not far from the cavern entrance. The young violet was growing well, although far from her full, final size.

Kari smiled at Kora. She was not quite sure what to make of the woman, but she was going to learn how to deal with her. Her own flits, tan and blue, appeared to flutter around, Lightning chirpling to Soot brightly.

They were good company, and so was Fioloth, but sometimes one wanted company that was not of dragonkind, she thought. And she really did need to develop more of a relationship with her future wingleader.

[Sparrow]

It worked out well then. Kora smiled. "Nayarath hopes Fioloth will come too." While she still felt the young Violet's attendance went without mentioned, Nayarath did have a reputation when it came to other queens. Best to make her sound welcoming.

I always sound welcoming.

I know you do.

Except to sarcasm.

They emerged from the tunnels and it wasn't hard to locate Nayarath, waiting near the lake. Soot swept ahead to meet up with Lilac, chattering an invitation to Kari's fire-lizards to follow. Lilac would at least be welcoming to Lightning.

[ShadowReine]

Kari smiled a bit. "I don't think Fioloth is going to let me out of her sight. I hear they get less clingy with age."

Not that she really minded the violet's clinginess...much. Nobody who wanted to mess with queenriders would do so with the dragon, as young as she was, right there. It made her feel safe, even if it was likely only the illusion. Fioloth stood as soon as she was outside, padding along next to her with her wings furled tightly.

"She's looking good, isn't she...I know, I'm biased." Every rider was, but she was quite proud of the slight shine to the reddish tinged violet's hide, and of the work that went into maintaining it.

[Sparrow]

Kora laughed. "Hardly. They just can't follow you as easily." When a dragon was as big as a queen, there were few enough places they could go, and moving grew to be so much trouble, that it was hardly worth tracking a rider's circles around the Weyr. But a dragon didn't have to be there physically to be keeping a very close eye on its rider.

"You don't have to tell me." It was pretty solid fact that every rider was biased. "But I think Fioloth is looking very well."

They reached Nayarath, and the Gold lay her nose in front of them expectantly. Kora set down the basket- and no sooner had it hit the ground than Soot was crawling inside it- and gave Nayarath some scratches.

[ShadowReine]

"Your flit's stealing your lunch," Kari pointed out, giving Lightning a look before he got any ideas, then settling down on something convenient.

Namely Fioloth's foreleg, just about big enough to make a good seat now. Pretty soon it would be almost too big for such purposes. "And Fioloth should be big...although not as big as Nayarath."

With the other gold having gone to lead another Weyr, Nayarath was undisputed as the largest dragon at Nyocia, although both violets were only small when it was seen relatively. She wondered which would end up being the biggest out of the two.

Not that it mattered. They would all fly in the queen's wing and the cumbersome size of the queens was close to equal for all three. None were particularly more agile than the others. "I still, some days, can't believe I have Fioloth. I really thought I was going to Impress a barred."

[Sparrow]

"What?" Kora looked down and kicked the basket open. Lilac zipped over and perched on the edge to scold Soot, who was far too focused on eating to pay much attention to a Violet that was nearly always scolding him for something.

Kora didn't mind Soot taking a share of the food. She sat down by the basket, eased Lilac onto her arm, and scratched the Violet until she quieted again. "Jorindath is almost as big as Nayarath. I figure it's possible for a Violet to get as big, although I'm sure Nayarath would rather they didn't."

Nayarath rumbled softly. That was true.

Lilac moved up Kora's arm and curled around her neck, where she would await food offerings. Perhaps not patiently though, and Kora held a bit of meat up to the little Violet before she could start making noise about it. "I know the feeling. I didn't think I'd Impress anything, they just made me Stand to add numbers to the Candidates." She laughed. "But I don't know what I'd do without Nayarath now."

There were a lot of things about her life that would be a lot simpler, but it would be lacking a lot of fulfillment. Maybe she wouldn't have known otherwise had she never Impressed, but Kora really couldn't picture herself ever being happy without Nayarath at her side.

[ShadowReine]

Kari hrmed. "I was confident I would Impress, even after the first time, but didn't even really *consider* a queen." She lay back against her dragon, some, munching on her lunch and feeling the violet's breathing flow through her.

And more than that, the mental support one only got from a dragon. "I don't really care how big she gets. I know which wing I'll be flying in, after all." And with only three dragons, there were no complicated formations to worry about.

[Sparrow]

"I wanted to Impress, but I wasn't very confident. Particularly not the second time." There were so few eggs. So few Candidates too, but enough that chances were good that she could have been left out that time too.

That never would have happened. Not with me there. And it went a bit beyond Nayarath's imaginings to think that she might not have been. Kora, on the other hand, was quite good at getting lost in what ifs.

She smiled. "You're lucky you have a Violet there. Flamethrowers are pretty messy." Not to mention a lot harder to work than simply telling the dragon, "Flame there." But they let her fight Thread with the rest, so she appreciated them.

[ShadowReine]

Kari chuckled. "Well, I don't think Fioloth would have let me Impress anyone else." Although she had failed before the violet was even conceived, so it couldn't be her 'fault'.

The violet, of course, was convinced it was, living in the eternal dragon world of 'is', in which what ifs, past and future tended to be less important than the world of now. "And if I had to deal with a flamethrower I would. Didn't they used to believe that chewing firestone made dragon females sterile?"

She thought she had read that somewhere, but it was certainly not true with the gorgeous violets. The golds, though...

[Sparrow]

"No." Kora chuckled. Dragons were quite adamant about that. Whether they actually had any control over that was doubtful, but they weren't going to stop thinking it. It seemed fair enough to Kora; once Impressed, it wasn't like any rider could imagine having anyone else.

"They did. But I guess it's just that they can't utilize it. We tried it on Nayarath after discovering Kelth could chew... we're not doing that again." Kora laughed. That had been a mess.

Firestone does not taste good at all, Nayarath added, speaking to Fioloth. Although her rider might, she did not envy the Violets there.

[ShadowReine]

Kari considered. "Let me guess. She threw up everywhere."

Fioloth regarded the gold for a moment. Of course, being able to chew was the way in which she was *better* than a gold. She didn't respond verbally, but the way she pulled herself up to her full height was obvious to human and dragon alike.

"Fioloth, stop it. She's the senior, being all vain in her direction just makes you look like a silly hatchling. Besides. I'm sitting on your leg."

Oops.

[Sparrow]

"Exactly. Some sort of nasty steaming gunk that I never want to see again." Kora shook her head. She felt it had been worth trying, but still... maybe kind of a dumb idea. Nayarath hadn't liked it, it was possible she could have been hurt, and although new colors were popping up, very little had changed among the original ones. They shouldn't really have expected Nayarath to be different from any other Gold.

But it had still been worth a try, and was now a funny memory. They could always use more of those.

Nayarath did not feel the same, and was quite focused on Fioloth's reaction. Luckily, the Violet was still small enough that try as she might, she could only remind herself of how small she was in comparison to Nayarath. The Gold raised her head from the ground and stared down her snout at Fioloth, just to add to the difference.

Kora laughed. She'll grow up, you know. And it would only add to the humor if Fioloth ended up as large as Nayarath. At the moment, she at least behaved very much like Nayarath had when she was that age.

[ShadowReine]

Karisna laughed at the two dragons.

"Honestly. The pair of you." Of course, Nayarath would likely remain senior and with two Weyrs they would easily find a gold to replace her. Golds still outranked violets.

"They really are mother and daughter, aren't they." Fioloth had, it seemed, inherited some of Nayarath's personality along with the reddish tinge to her hide.

Of course, other than that they looked different. Fioloth's build was not quite the same as her dam's, although some of that was natural color differences.

[Sparrow]

"Very." Jorindath was the only queen out of Nayarath that hadn't ever behaved like her mother. Not that it made any huge difference; Nayarath had so far treated all other queens the same. They got along, so long as her superiority wasn't questioned too much, except when someone else was on the Sands. That turn of attention to some other queen always left Nayarath a little frustrated.

Luckily, when someone was on the Sands, Nayarath saw very little of her so the conflict couldn't do much damage. A grumpy Gold was nothing new to Nyocia.

"It'll be interesting to see how she behaves once she's mature." Nayarath had changed some, mostly just her maximum level of vanity, which now seemed to be dropping at a rate that was hardly even a fraction of what it had been when it first started rising.

But at least she was mellowing. When they were seven thousand or so, Nayarath might be a really nice dragon.

[ShadowReine]

Kari nodded. "She's got a lot of growing...and hopefully growing up...to do. It's interesting that she got that reddish hue to her. I wonder if she just inherited some of Nayarath's red, except spread out more."

Golds did not normally have red markings, and Kari had wondered if all the new colors themselves were somehow connected to that. "I think the red is pretty, mind. On both of them. And I'm not just saying that because you'd snort in my head if I didn't, Fioloth."

The violet snorted out loud instead, sending ripples of amusement that all three present could likely hear.

[Sparrow]

Kora shrugged. "I don't know where else it would come from. Not that I know where Nayarath got it. Her mother certainly didn't have any odd color to her, but she sure did drop a few." Those few odd colors had led to quite a lot now.

She laughed. "Yeah, I like it." The red suited Nayarath, and likely Fioloth too. Yes, it would be interesting to see the young Violet grow up.

Nayarath had lay her head back on the ground, relaxed again, and Kora shooed Soot away from the food before leaning back against her dragon's leg. Kora had been neglecting her dinner most of this time, probably about time she gave it some attention.

[ShadowReine]

Kari bit into her own meatroll after a moment. "Well, Nayarath is almost as attractive a dragon as Fioloth."

Well, really, the two were apples and oranges. It was hard to compare across multiple colors, after all. Violets were not golds, and Fioloth did not try to be...she was vain, yes, and very aware that she was a queen. But she was not a gold. Which suited Kari fine...as long as there was a gold to replace Nayarath when the time came.

May that time be decades in the future. "I figure pretty soon you'll start sticking me with the boring paperwork," Kari added, almost teasingly, but she knew it was true...she would do it in Kora's place, after all, and Kari was the most junior of the queenriders.