Could Have Been Perfect (open)

[wolflover1458]

The weather was wonderful outside. The humidity wasn't too high, the was a gentle breeze blowing, and for once, it was warm without being uncomfortably hot. And yet there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The bright sun illuminated the sky and the ground, spreading light across the land and making the lake seem to sparkle pristinely. The sounds of dragons could be heard coming from the Weyr, and the sounds of nature emanated from the other directions. Birds, bugs, and all sorts of other things were thriving in the summer. The Weyr was thriving as well. Certainly they had some problems, but for the day, at least, things were going well. There was no sickness, no starving, no strife. The dragons and people were healthy, and Nyocia was strong. Surely this was as close to a perfect day as anyone could hope to get?

Of course not. This day was only a wanna-be-perfect day. Weather wasn't everything. There would still be people arguing, someone was bound to get hurt today, and it could hardly be perfect if she was as bored as she was. The beauty of the day was completely washed away in Therion's mind. She slowly tried to count all the days she had been at the Weyr so far. It had definitely been quite a while. When she'd been Searched, Therion had been thinking that something would happen soon. But it turned out Jorindath hadn't been due to lay her clutch yet, and even when she did, there would still be a few sevendays before they hatched. Why did this take so long? Other people went on and on about all the things she (or someone else) could do at the Weyr in the meantime. Really? She's come here for dragons, not to do things she could have done just as well at home. And who was telling her that anyways? The people who already had dragons, and the people who weren't Standing anyways.

Either way, she was fed up with waiting. Unfortunately, she didn’t have much of a choice. There wasn’t anything that could make this happen faster. Well, at least she wasn’t being bugged to do chores. It didn’t seem right that the only thing the Weyr could think of to have Candidates do was work. And yes, it might be preparing them for their dragons, but the clutch hadn’t even been laid yet. Surely they could at least wait that long? Therion let out a long sigh. It wasn’t her decision anyways, but if it was…

She shook her head and glanced around the scenery of the Weyrbowl again. She’d sat down outside to come think without there being noises all around her, and that was going rather well. There were some other people out here naturally, but mostly they were just ignoring here. She might have been here for what seemed like a ridiculously long time, but Therion still didn’t know a lot of the people here. Of course, a lot of these people would probably end up bugging her, so perhaps that was a good thing. Eventually, though, she was going to have to meet more of the people here, especially if she ended up with the shiny Queen dragon she knew she deserved.

If only she even knew if there was one! That would make her feel at least a little bit better about having to do all these chores and other things that were just busywork to keep the Candidates out of trouble. She didn’t plan on getting into trouble, of course, but some of those other Candidates didn’t seem like the completely trustworthy type. And thanks to them, she had too suffer too. But eventually she would find her dragon, Therion knew it was going to happen. And then she wouldn’t have to hang out with Candidates who might not even have a chance on the Sands. Instead she would get to know some of the dragonriders better, become friends with them instead, which was what they should all be doing. Just Impressing would make everyone look more favorably upon her.

And becoming the next Weyrwoman? Well, everyone would just like her even more.

[Sparrow]

Tirasha would probably agree on the whole wanna-be-perfect day idea; it couldn't be precisely perfect when there were still clutches and Candidates and the whole still-being-a-Journeywoman thing ahead of her. None of those things were her favorite, since they all meant a continuance of menial work and overall tedious living.

Right now was a moment slightly better than usual, since she was at least on break and things were just tedious rather than tedious and hardworking. Tianthe was already in the lake, swimming around and keeping an eye out for fish. Willow was perched on a rock, playing watchdog, however useless the duty since it was broad daylight and there was no one in any Weyr who was going to attack a twiggy Healer.

Naturally, what came to mind to do was to find someone to bother. Someone of lower rank than her that she actually could bother. Jorindath hadn't clutched yet, so dragons weren't out in hordes Searching Candidates, which meant... few options for her. Up ahead though... she was pretty sure those were a Candidate's knots on that girl's shoulder.

One of the leftovers from the last clutch? Tirasha wasn't sure. She didn't recognize the girl, and she was pretty sure she had seen all of those Candidates at one time or another. It wasn't entirely unheard of for a Candidate to be brought in between clutches, and if that was the case here, and she was new... perfect bait.

"Hey you! Whaddya think you're doing, doing nothing? You know the main reason we bring Candidates here is for labor." They got a good couple months out of every single one too, and then years of work once they Impressed. They were a good investment.

[wolflover1458]

Therion's mind was indeed preoccupied. She was waiting exceedingly unpatiently for the next clutch. But she did find herself surprised to look at the lake water and notice it was moving. Upon closer inspection, there seemed to be a dragon in there... no, dragons were bigger. It was a firelizard. A tiny Green firelizard. Therion drew back a little. Firelizards weren't too much different from dragons. She would love to have a firelizard, but a Gold one, or a Bronze or something. Certainly not something as puny and common and unintelligent as a Green one. Well, if someone else wanted to own something like that, it was their problem. She, however, did not intend to have one of those herself. She was going to have a proper firelizard, along with a proper dragon. Unfortunately, all of this stuff was going to take time. Therion knew it was inevitable; the next time there was a Queen egg, the dragon inside was hers. She knew that, it was simply common knowledge to her. There were other Candidates, certainly, but none of them compared to her when it came to being the kind of Candidate worthy of a Queen dragon. There just needed to be one in the next clutch. And then she could forget all this silly Candidate nonsense and have the position that she deserved.

So intent on this thought was she that she failed to notice the person approaching her, and started a bit when she heard someone talking. Therion turned to look. It was some woman. Therion was pretty sure the notes on her arm meant she wasn't a dragonrider. They probably meant something more specific than that, but if it wasn't a dragonrider, than Therion was not interested. She would have liked to just tell this person to leave her alone and then go back to her thinking, but after she processed what had been told to her this was no longer a viable option.

"For your information," Therion replied, getting to her feet and turning to face this other woman, "I am not doing nothing. I am thinking, and if I wasn't thinking, I would be breathing, and that happens to be something. In fact, just being alive is something." At least she, Therion, was smart enough to know not to ask that kind of ridiculous question. It just proved how dumb other people were. Like this person.

"And I happen to know the Weyr gets Candidates for things like, oh, I don't know, dragon hatchings? There's drudges for slave labor, so we Candidates shouldn't even be doing that kind of rubbish. And feel free to tell someone else that. Maybe they'll get this chores thing reconsidered. When I'm Weyrwoman we'll be doing away with that for sure." It was a totally unnecessary thing, since there were people who wouldn't be Impressing that could do all those menial chores. Therion was going to be a Weyrwoman, and Weyrwomen did not scrub dishes and sweep floors. They did far more important things.

Therion did not find herself overly surprised by her response to this person. When Therion was not in a good mood (which was quite often) she did not have good conversations. Especially with people that wanted her to do chores. She hated chores. And everyone who told her to do them.

And trying to be nice to people so she could make friends? Oh please, that was so overrated. The only friends she needed were high-ranking riders.

[Sparrow]

Tirasha wasn't about to shrink because one Candidate was clearly sitting a little to high on her horse just then. She had dealt with plenty of that. "You weren't consciously doing anything that is visible to an onlooker then," she specified. "To the average human being, that means nothing."

Nothing that couldn't be interrupted, anyway. Weyrs were a place of action, not sitting on lake shores to think. "Besides, you got to earn your dragon. You already got a free ride on one to get here, the riders didn't make you walk. I think that means you got a little work ahead of you." Few people gave away fire-lizard eggs. Did she really think that dragon eggs were in such easy supply that they could go out for nothing?

The Weyrwoman comment though... Tirasha could feel a laugh wrestling its way out of her; this girl could probably see it too. It didn't take much to quake Tirasha's spindly body. "You know, I think you should talk to the Weyrwoman about your plans for when you are. I think she would love to hear that. The Weyr has tons of room for lazy good-for-nothings, there's no doubt about that."

Plenty of it. Plenty. They didn't have a single person here covering the slot.

[wolflover1458]

Therion had a very snappy retort in mind for what this woman thought about her 'doing nothing' but she decided against voicing it. She had better things to comment on anyways, and there was no need to debate on what she was doing. Which was not nothing. She was never doing nothing. It irked her some that this lady had had a pretty good response to that, but she ignored that as well.

And why, exactly, did she have to earn a dragon? The dragons were the ones that choose, not the people. All Candidates needed to do was stand there and wait for the dragon to come to them. Did hatchling dragons care if someone had done chores? No. Did they care if they had been nice and made friends with everyone in the Weyr? No. They just chose someone who was right for them. That was how hatchings went, so Candidates shouldn't have to do chores as it was. They'd been Searched, that meant they had been found worthy of a dragon (although Therion wasn't sure how some of the others had been found worthy) and, as such, they should be treated with a little more respect. The Weyrlings got enough respect once they had dragons, but they had all been Candidates once, so they ought to be treating their Candidates a little nicer.

It was what she said about the Weyrwoman, though, that really irked Therion. Now, Therion was pretty, 100% sure that this lady was being sarcastic, or at least kidding, but she spoke anyways. "I'd love to talk to the Weyrwoman. Do you know where she is?" Obviously, someone that wasn't even a dragonrider wouldn't stand a chance of getting the Weyrwoman down here, or Therion up to her, but if she could, then Therion would finally have the chance to have a conversation about all the things that were wrong with the Weyr.

Lazy good-for-nothing indeed! She was going to reform the Weyr and turn it into a place that actually made sense. She was going to have a Queen dragon by her side as she helped govern some of the biggest decisions anyone could hope to make. And this woman she was talking to? Why, she would still be a... whatever she was. But she would not be a dragonrider, and she would not be a Weyrwoman, and Therion would be. This conversation was really quite laughable.

[Sparrow]

She would- she would love to talk to the Weyrwoman. Shoot. While Tirasha knew that Kora meeting Candidates was perfectly known to happen, it always happened more or less by chance. She didn't know of anyone actually seeking her out, or Kora seeking them out. The exception might be Gwen, who stood through three hatchings and bragged throughout about how she was going to get a queen. Kora had probably sought her out.

This girl seemed like a likely one to end up in the same situation. But it took some time to reach that point.

"I know where she is," Tirasha replied uneasily, "but she's working." Kora had an office in the lower caverns that was easy enough to find, and she was in it a lot. When she wasn't in it, she was usually elsewhere in the caverns, helping with the cleaning or talking to weyrfolk. When she wasn't in the caverns, Nayarath was out and that made the woman even easier to find. But it wasn't Tirasha's place to introduce Candidates to her, particularly when Nayarath wasn't even the queen soon to clutch.

"My best advice would be to do your chores. You'll probably run into her." She took part in many of the same chores anyway. For some inexplicable reason, she enjoyed menial tasks. It was something Tirasha would never understand.

[wolflover1458]

Oh, so this person actually knew where the Weyrwoman was? Therion found that laughable. When she was Weyrwoman, she wouldn't be disclosing her location to random people like this lady. She had to wonder if this person really did know where Kora was. Probably not. She was just saying that to try and get Therion excited. Well, she wasn't going to fall for it. Random Weyrfolk did not just know where the Weyrwoman was at all times; she had to be a busy woman, and was probably moving from place to place anyways. And if she really were that easy to find, Therion would know where she was already. She didn't, so obviously Kora could not be that easy to find.

This thing about doing chores, though, was something she couldn't resist commenting on. "Oh, right, I do my chores, and I'll just magically meet the Weyrwoman, will I?" she huffed. How would that help? The Weyrwoman was the person who was willing to let Candidates still have to do these chores, so why, exactly, would she be visiting them while they did them? This was just some silly ploy to try and get Therion to do her chores with complaining. This woman didn't know where the Weyrwoman was, she was just trying to make Therion more complacent about her chores. Well, it wasn't going to work, and she was still going to complain about them.

Although, the lady did look rather nervous while she was saying it. Maybe she meant it? No, that wasn't possible. That didn't even make sense. Candidates did not get to have chats with Weyrwomen, who were too busy being important for that. Therion wasn't about to go around talking to people that might or might not end up with a dragon that was worth anything. She was going to be a Weyrwoman who was more concerned with important things than that, and she expected that Kora was like that too.

And if not, then maybe it was time for a new Senior Weyrwoman. And who better to fill the spot?

[Sparrow]

"It wouldn't be magic, it's just fact." Tirasha snorted. "What do you think the Weyrwoman does? You are aware that what she's over is the lower caverns? It's her job to keep them clean and running smoothly."

Maybe that would make the duty of Weyrwoman sound less enticing to this girl. The queen dragon perhaps had control over all other dragons, but the Weyrwoman was not. She acted as a representative of the Weyr and organized Weyr events, but she was not so important that she had no work to do herself beside those tasks. Tirasha knew of Weyrs in the past that had been run by lazy Weyrwoman, far more focused on how they looked than on their actions, and they did not do well.

"Kora likes working," Tirasha added, a little haughtily. "That's a trait of a good leader." She was afraid to look unimportant. In fact, it often seemed that Kora preferred it that way. Unlike her dragon, she liked to avoid notice. She enjoyed quiet.

Tirasha could respect that, even though it wasn't how she herself felt. She liked to be recognized. Apparently this girl did too, but that didn't always get one far in a Weyr.

[wolflover1458]

"Take care of the Lower Caverns? I thought that was supposed to be the Headwoman's job?" Maybe they didn't have a Headwoman. Or maybe Kora just enjoyed that for some weird reason. Well, when Therion was Weyrwoman someone else could take care of that. And if Kora enjoyed it, than that was her thing. Therion, however, had no intention of taking care of running anything but the actually important people. Dragonriders and the like. Not random Weyrfolk who would probably burn out if they tried to do things without direction. It was their own fault they were so dumb they couldn't manage themselves. The Weyr ought to just have more manageable people down there. Actually, no. They needed the smart people to be dragonriders.

This whole liking work, thing, though. Well, Therion would enjoy doing her chores if they actually somehow related to the fact that she would be leading the Weyr someday. "Liking work isn't the only thing that makes a good leader, and I'd enjoy work if it was actually important." No one gave her anything important to do, though. They all thought she was another dumb Candidate. But she wasn't, she was a future Weyrwoman of the Weyr, and she ought to be respected for that.

Not that anyone cared about what would happen in the future. They wouldn't care until Therion was sitting with a Queen dragon of her own. Then everyone would be congratulating her, everyone would be respecting her, and no one would be talking to her like this lady was. The other Weyrwomen would be coming over to talk to her, and she would be respected throughout the Weyr.

She only hoped that Jorindath laid a Queen egg in her next clutch. The Weyr could use more Queens anyways, so the chances seemed like they were rather high. At least, she hoped they were. If Jorindath didn't, then she would have to wait who knew how long for another clutch to be laid. And if that one didn't have a Queen egg either, then she would have to wait even longer.

This was really beginning to feel vicious. And Therion found herself more and more impatient for the next clutch to be laid already.

[Sparrow]

"Headwoman has a part in it too." Tirasha shrugged. "But the Weyrwoman's over her." The Weyrwoman was there to keep the Weyr well supplied and organized, and that Kora did. Tirasha wasn't even really sure what the Headwoman did, past assigning duties and then probably taking care of just as many chores as Kora did. As a Healer, a duty the Headwoman did her best to keep out of the way of, Tirasha didn't see much of her.

"Your work is important. No dragon's gonna Impress to someone that can't even wash a few dishes. How's it going to know that it can trust the person to wash it?" And that was a pretty important task. Tirasha didn't have a dragon herself, but she had certainly bathed plenty. All those new weyrlings that got off to a bad start, not washing and oiling their quickly growing dragons enough, they ended up with her.

It wasn't all that bad a task, actually. The young dragons were usually sweet, and very happy to get all their itches relieved. It seemed a pity sometimes that Tirasha couldn't hear what they had to say when she took care of them.

"Besides, if those dishes don't get washed, we can't feed the riders. And that would be a problem." Actually, they probably wouldn't care. They would just grab food and eat it on their hands. Dragonriders had just as voracious appetites as their dragons. But it wouldn't please Kora to see such jobs not done.

[wolflover1458]

Oh, sure, her work was important. Like the baby dragons really cared if she could wash dishes. Washing the dragon was far more important. "There's drudges to wash the dishes. It's washing the dragon that's actually important, and that's something I'll gladly do." She just needed the dragon first, and that seemed like it was going to take a while. Therion had never been very patient for things to happen, but she was feeling even more urgent that the clutch be laid now than ever. Even if there was no Queen egg, she would still need to wait for the next Queen to rise, so that clutch needed to be laid fast anyways. She had to wonder if she would even bother going to the hatching if there was no Queen egg. Maybe just because it would be expected of her, but not because she would Impress. The only dragon she was Impressing too would be coming in a golden-coated shell.

That was the only dragon she needed. But until that dragon came to her on the hatching sands, she was stuck washing dishes like a drudge. And she didn't need to do that to be able to take care of a dragon. The dragon was the most important thing, so Therion knew she would take as much care as possible of her darling Queen. She just needed the dragon to actually hatch first, though. And she severely hoped that that happened soon.

Because right now, she was not having the time of her life. She was on the bottom of the Weyr social chain right now. She was at the bottom of everything. But she was going to rise to the top. Therion knew she would. And she would have a Queen dragon up there with her. And then no one would be telling her to wash dishes, and she was still going to be able to wash her dragon, even if she didn't do any dishes now. Then no one would remember the time she had been a Candidate. They would just remember that she was a Weyrwoman, and as important as the rest.

The problem was that it wasn't happening yet. And Therion was very impatient for it. But it didn't seem any closer to happening now than it had been yesterday. At least it was a bit closer than when she'd been at the cothold. She was slowly getting there. It would just be a while longer.

[Sparrow]

Tirasha raised her eyebrows. "You know, I hear that a lot and it doesn't happen." If someone couldn't put application to one sort of work, she usually couldn't put it to another, no matter how much she thought she could. Tirasha didn't always enjoy her work, but she always did it. And if she didn't do the small tasks of keeping inventory and treating people who overreacted to scratches, how could she be expected to be any help in emergencies? It was just the way of things.

"I look forward to seeing you in the infirmary." Tirasha laughed. "Actually, scratch that. I don't look forward to it, but I know it'll happen." And the uncared for dragon she brought it would not be a queen. Of that Tirasha had no doubt. And if it wasn't for a dragon... well, this girl seemed like the sort to get herself hurt elsewhere.

Perhaps by Willow, who had been watching and decided that this girl was not a safe one. He landed on Tirasha's shoulder and scowled down at the Candidate. If Tirasha had any say in the matter, she would say he had a pretty good "Back off" look, but it was unnecessary. She had the situation under control, and gave the bronze a scratch to ease him.

He would only make her look bad, acting aggressive like that. She knew he wasn't, and that, as much as she wanted him to sometimes, he wouldn't purposely hurt anyone. But this girl didn't.

[wolflover1458]

"Just because I don't want to wash dishes doesn't mean I don't know how to do it," Therion snapped. What did this lady think, that she'd been raised as a Lord Holder's daughter her whole life? She'd lived her whole life in a cothold! All she ever did there was chores, and she came here to get away from them, but that had not happened. Therion had always hated chores, and yet they never went away. And she was well enough prepared for taking care of a dragon. "I've done chores my whole life, and I'm tired of them. They aren't preparing me for anything!" Not anymore, at least. Perhaps at some point they had been, but now Therion just wanted to be done with them.

"And I will not end up in the infirmary." Therion was pretty certain of that. She wasn't a clumsy idiot, and she was smart enough to know to listen about how to take care of a dragon. Why did every person who wasn't a Candidate have to act this way? Maybe it was just envy talking, because Therion was the one who would be walking out with the dragon, and this woman would be sitting on the Stands watching her fulfill her destiny, a destiny she knew would happen soon enough. It would just be a while.

A firelizard suddenly showed up. Therion didn't have a firelizard. She would like one, though. A Gold one, of course, or maybe a Violot. Something to match the dragon she was going to end up having. Just not an icky one, like a Green or Blue or those things.

This firelizard, however, seemed to have a problem with her. He looked at her and had a very unhappy look on his face. "Oh, bug off," she snapped at him. Not caring that it could probably fly out and attack her and she had no way to defend herself. Therion was in a bad mood. And when Therion was in a bad mood, you should either run or be able to defend yourself. Standing there and trying to be nice to her would just be a bad idea. Everything felt like an attack when she was upset.

[Sparrow]

"Prove it. Go wash some dishes." Honestly, who didn't know how to? But someone couldn't just expect to not ever have work to do. That was what a Weyr was. Work. That was why people came here. They did their work, and they knew they would always be supported. Dragonriders had just as much of it as the rest, even if most of their work went towards their dragons rather than general upkeep of the Weyr.

"You're going to be doing chores your whole life you know, especially if you Impress. Who do you think cleans your dragon's weyr? The fire-lizards?" Tirasha laughed. Certainly not the kagen, who just dragged grass and mess in. Drudges could hardly access a weyr. There was a reason the non-riders were called lower-caverns workers. They stayed below.

"And everyone makes it to the infirmary at some point." Riders in particular saw a lot of it. Tirasha scratched Willow's back. "Some people make it there particularly often, huh? All the proud, daring ones." The bronze chittered.

He didn't, however, take well to being snapped at, and his expression darkened again as he turned to give a warning hiss to the Candidate. Tirasha tsked. "Willow's got every right to sit on his own keeper's shoulder, you know." And he was no small, silly fire-lizard that didn't mind getting told otherwise either.

[wolflover1458]

Therion raised her eyebrows at that first comment. "You go wash some dishes," she retorted. She wasn't about to waste her free time doing chores she would have to do later anyways. Honestly, some people could just be complete jerks. It was rather ridiculous, this whole conversation, but Therion wasn't going to let it go without a fight. "Dragonrider duties don't qualify as chores to me, actually, so I'll only be doing chores until there's a Queen egg." Well, technically until the Queen egg, but surely even Weyrfolk could understand that. They couldn't all be ridiculous dumb. This woman seemed like she was at least relatively smart.

"Then maybe I will go the infirmary, but it'll be for a good reason, and not because I wasn't taking care of my dragon, which I will manage well enough." How could she know, anyways? She wasn't a dragonrider, and she wasn't going to be one. She was just some... Weyrfolk person of some status that Therion had yet to learn of. At least Therion would only have to deal with these kinds of people for a while. Soon enough she would be a Queenrider, and then people wouldn't be acting this way around her.

Nor would firelizards, and Therion was not liking the look of that Bronze one. She didn't care what this woman thought about the firelizard. Clearly not all of them were pleasant. "Well, if he's going to sit with you he can show people some respect." And Therion deserved it, especially from a firelizard. He wasn't as smart as her. He was lower on the chain of animals. Firelizards bonded to people, for Faranth's sake. Therion was therefore above him, and she ought to be immune to scorn, but apparently she was not.

That didn't mean she had to like it, though.

[Sparrow]

"You want to come with? It wouldn't be kitchen dishes, but there's not that much difference between all the bowls we use in the infirmary, huh?" Tirasha smirked. She didn't mind getting herself into some work to see this girl do some. Due to her higher status, she wouldn't have to do much anyway. Just walk in, announce to the other healers that she had a Candidate in need of some shores, and the duty would be well taken care of.

"When you're scrubbing down your green every day, you'll start calling them chores." Tirasha shrugged. Dragonriders called bathing the dragon a chore. They called feeding them a chore, even adult dragons that fed themselves. Repetitive work was a chore. Tirasha was pretty sure that was the definition of the word. Work done on a regular basis.

Tirasha exchanged a look with Willow, her eyebrows raised and lips pursed. "Respect, she says. What do you think of that." She looked back at the Candidate. "He's giving you more respect than you've given him. All he did was come sit on my shoulder like a good little flitter and you've been snapping at him ever since." That was perhaps a slightly one-sided argument, but this girl was missing something integral. One didn't get respect unless they earned it, and she had not done one thing to do that. Particularly not to Willow. He was a fire-lizard, but he was still a bronze, and had every ounce of vanity common to the color. A queen would only be worse. And yet this girl wanted one?

Fat chance.

[wolflover1458]

"You can wash your own dishes," Therion told her. "It's bad enough to have to do them as chores." If she was in a better mood, she might have considered doing it just to show off that she could, indeed, do dishes, but she did not feel like going down to the infirmary and cleaning for them when she would later have to go to the kitchens and clean for them. Therion was trying to get away from chores, not get more of them piled on her. She couldn’t she why this woman would want to go do chores, other than just get Therion to do them, although the mention of the infirmary suggested that she worked there. She was probably a Healer, then, not that that affected Therion in any way, really. Maybe all Healers were this annoying.

It was not the mention of the dishes, however, that got Therion annoyed, nor was it the notion that she wasn’t going to enjoy scrubbing down her own dragon every day, it was the fact that this woman seemed to think she would end up with a Green, and that was just unacceptable. “I will not end up with a Green dragon, thank you,” Therion snapped. “Just because you’d be willing to take whatever you could get doesn’t mean I would.” She was destined for a Queen, not some silly, insignificant, common, Green dragon, and she was outraged that anyone thought she was. Therion was better than that, she knew she was, and she would never settle for so dull of a dragon, not when she could easily be a Weyrwoman. The next Queen would choose her, though, and then they would see who was laughing, because Therion would be the one everyone knew, and this Healer person would be at the bottom of the pile, with only insignificant Candidates left to annoy, only those were weren’t worthy of anything spectacular.

She didn’t care about the firelizard anymore. Firelizards were insignificant when it came to dragons, although she did notice this woman seemed to gloss over the fact that the lizard had been the one who glare at Therion first, not vice versa. The lizard could get away with it, of course, but if she had tried that, she never would of. But that didn’t seem to matter as much anymore. Firelizards were nothing, nothing, didn’t even come closer to something, when you compared them to dragons. Therion was here for a dragon, and she was going to get one. And it would not be a dirty, common little Green dragon. No, her dragon was coming out of a golden shell, and it was going to go to her, and no one else. She knew it would happen. Therion was perfect for a Queen, and who else could hope to compare?

Therion knew that was destined to happen, but it didn’t mean she couldn’t get annoyed at the idea that someone thought anything else would happen to her. She would rather be left Standing than be stuck with a Green, and she would make it so that was so, if necessary, although hopefully it wouldn’t be. Jorindath seemed perfectly capable of laying a Queen egg. And if she didn’t, maybe Nayarath would rise soon. She seemed pretty capable of it as well.

[Sparrow]

"They're going to be chores either way." It didn't matter who did them, that was just what they were. Better that Candidates did them though. There were plenty of jobs that only a Healer could be trusted with. If the Candidates did the work anyone could do, they could get a lot more of that done. With Candidates like this girl getting Searched though... it didn't seem like the infirmary was going to be a very efficient plays in weeks to come. What had gotten into the dragon's head to bring this girl here?

Tirasha raised her eyebrows. Just because she would take whatever she could get? Did this girl think she was a Candidate too? Were the clearly different knots on her shoulder not an indicator of her rank? Was the fact that she was here taunting her about chores and going to the infirmary also not? The very idea of her standing on the sands... what a laugh. And she was laughing. This girl had such airs, but she was entirely inept! She didn't know a thing!

"Just because I- because I'll take whatever I can get?" Tirasha had to struggle to speak. "Little lady, I have no interest in that. I'm a dragonhealer, not a dragonrider." Not that she was all that little; she was a fair bit taller than Tirasha, like nearly everyone at the Weyr. But she was clearly younger, clearly inexperienced, and very clearly in need of some reminders of her place.

"It's the Candidates that take whatever they can get. They have no choice. When a dragon picks you, it's yours, whether it's what you wanted or not." And according to everything everyone said, once it had picked you, it was what you wanted. The dragonet recieved wasn't often what was expected, but Impression lived up to its name. It was an impressive thing.

At the rate this girl was going though, she wouldn't even be allowed to stand. Ignoring the chore chart had that ill effect. And it would probably be Tirasha dealing with her when she turned up in the infirmary after whatever destructive tantrum she threw. That would be a laugh.