Headed Out [Open]

[Sparrow]

Kora laughed. "I think you might have that backwards."

Not there was much comparing an adult gold to a young violet, but every rider was biased and would do it anyway. Luckily they were all aware of it too, and could joke about it. Even Nayarath was alright with it, so long as she came out on top. Considering the bad idea risking any sort of insult to the senior queen would be, she generally did.

"Well, you know, if you don't watch it, paperwork grows as fast as any baby dragon." Unfortunately, it wasn't nearly as fun to take care of, despite being just as time consuming. And even what she handed off, she went through when it was finished, which didn't take the time put in down that much, just the effort. Still, a welcome break.

[ShadowReine]

"And a baby queen at that, I'd imagine." Kari made a wry face. "See what you got me into, Fioloth?"

Still, she had to have been the best available candidate and she certainly had to have faith in her dragon's choice. Fioloth would not have selected a girl who was not up to the task of riding a queen...even if she had her occasional doubts.

"Not that even the greens don't grow pretty fast," she added, thoughtfully. "Even if they do end up quite a lot smaller."

[Sparrow]

"They all grow fast, some just have a lot more of it to do," Kora agreed. Greens ended up a lot smaller than queens, but they also hatched a lot smaller. Of course, it wasn't nearly as vast a difference when they were hatchlings as it was when they were adults.

"But I think that whatever you get, you're getting into something pretty big." Queenriders had a lot of dull work, but all the other riders were the ones that risked their lives. One wasn't in near as much danger in the lowest wing.

[ShadowReine]

Kari nodded. "I knew something of what I was getting into, but I don't think anything could have prepared me for Fioloth."

Even had she been green. The riders could talk about the bond, but they could not share it, not with anyone else. It was small wonder they were a little...apart...from normal people, with this secret that flowed between them. "She's beautiful, though. And the second she chose me I knew why I hadn't Impressed before...she still insists she wouldn't LET me." Which as she hadn't existed yet...

[Sparrow]

"Nayarath thinks that too." Kora said with a laugh. That a dragon that hadn't even been conceived yet could stop all the others from Impressing to what was most definitely hers seemed like a silly idea sometimes, but then... well, the dragons very firmly believed it, and it was hard to argue with them.

Only because we're always right, Nayarath rumbled. She was starting to fall asleep, lying here in the warm evening sun, but couldn't help but wake herself up enough to point that out.

Kora shook her head. "Yes, Nayarath, I know." About some things they were.

[ShadowReine]

Kari grinned. "So, maybe it's a dragon universal." Of course, she'd already noticed that Fioloth had, at times, a somewhat shaky idea of time. So it was possible that she simply did not grasp how much time had occurred before her egg had shelled.

Or...well. Dragons were dragons. "Always right, eh? Especially queens." She patted Fioloth, who gave her an arch look. She was, of course, better than Nayarath, but had more sense than to point that out around the Senior.

Who was, after all, her dam and older and thus actually got some respect from the otherwise quite arrogant young violet.

[Sparrow]

"Probably." It wasn't like the dragons knew much else. The first thing they did was Impress; their entire existence was based around one person. That they couldn't quite fathom the idea that this person might not have been theirs did make some sense.

Kora laughed. "Yes, especially them." That they might one day be wrong about something was another idea they couldn't fathom.

[ShadowReine]

Kari grinned. "Stop looking so hurt, Fioloth. You know every word I say is right."

The violet snorted. "She thinks I give too much advice sometimes." But the two didn't have as much of a bickering relationship as some of the dragonpairs she'd seen around.

As much. They also weren't as quiet with each other as some. But Kari could no longer, of course, imagine herself with any other dragon, of any color. Only her lovely red-violet. "But then, I think that's part of why she picked me. It's as good a reason as any."

[Sparrow]

Kora shrugged. "I've been banned from contemplating why Nayarath picked me." Mostly by herself, but it was a decision Nayarath gave full support to. She had never been able to come up with any good reasons.

Nayarath didn't feel she needed them either. Kora belonged with her. It was that simple. Kora had a hard time fighting the desire to contemplate that.

"Some dragons seem to pick equalizers," Kora mused. "And others just want personality matches. I think that happens a lot more." Gwen and Tyrth, of course, came to mind. They stood out, and came up a lot. "But then there are the ones where the dragon just sees something that I think the rest of us don't." Like Razuth and Angel.

"Those are the ones that keep me from trying to figure it out." She laughed.

[ShadowReine]

Kari shrugged. "Well, they're stuck with their choice. I'm sure they consider it carefully." And the riders were stuck with their choice too.

"It's only fair, though. We volunteer to Stand, they don't have a choice about Impressing. Only fair that they get to choose their partners." She patted Fioloth's nose again. "And every dragon is special...to their rider, at least."

[Sparrow]

As carefully as could be expected in the few moments a dragon usually took to consider their choice, anyway. Kora had never heard of a dragon to feeling any regret over their decision though. Something always went right in those few moments.

"Each dragon is special to more than it's rider." Kora smiled a little. "Although I'm sure that's who they're most special to. Huh Nayarath?" She scratched her dragon's leg.

Nayarath made a brief rumbling noise deep in her throat a bit between a purr and a grunt. She wanted to sleep much more than she wanted to answer obvious questions. Yes, but quit bugging me. If they really wanted her say in the matter, she would say to end this party so she could go sleep in her weyr.

[ShadowReine]

Kari considered that. "I suppose. I meant more that we have a natural bias towards considering our own dragons to be the best. And that we have to think beyond that to remember to value the other colors."

The greens and barreds and blues, after all, could do quite a few things Fioloth could not, even if the violet would want to deny it. They were much faster, much more agile, much more capable of chasing thread down close to the ground. Sure, Fioloth could flame, but she was still going to be huge.

[Sparrow]

"Yes." The whole bias thing went without saying, although Kora felt like people discussed it a lot. The second part, some people certainly needed to be reminded of that sometimes, Kora included. Not that she felt she devalued the others, she just tended to focus more on the big dragons.

She stretched. "I probably ought to get going though. Nayarath's not going to be able to get up again if she lies here too much longer."

An utter lie. The gold snorted and stood, hardly giving Kora time to step off and away from her leg.

Kora smiled weakly at Kari. "Clearly hadn't happened yet." She picked up the basket that had held her dinner and now housed a sleeping Soot, who Lilac squawked at. His bulging belly had precedence just then though, and he didn't budge. Maybe he was the one to get stuck.

[ShadowReine]

Kari grinned. "I'll hide out here a little longer...of course *you* know where to find me to give me hidework to do."

The young queenrider, though, did not feel like leaving her lifemate's side until duty demanded she do so. This might not have been the life she had thought she was signing up for, but it was a good life.

And besides, it was the life she had, and nothing could change that now.

OOC: Finit?