|
Post by **Auria (etc)** on Jun 19, 2008 21:32:13 GMT -5
Penna frowned, trying to sort out why the wall she'd just run into had a voice. As she looked upward and tried to focus her eyes, however, she discovered it also had a face. It was a man, not a wall, and he was scowling down at her from below thick black brows.
She clutched the half-empty skin of Benden closer to her ample bosom. A wall wouldn't deprive her of her wine, but the monster of a man, he was a brown rider, oh, Shells, what was his name, anyway....
Her chin doubled as the junior weyrwoman looked down with a scowl, trying to puzzle through the names of all the brown riders at Ista.
The deep booming voice descended again, drowning out the blaring sounds of music and celebration behind her. It held a touch of distaste in it, though the overtones were polite enough. “Penna? I asked if you needed assistance finding your weyr,”
The woman tossed her golden head, which barely reached the man's chest, and her short curls bobbed slightly. The act practically toppled her backward, and a pair of large hands on her pudgy shoulders kept her from falling. She shrugged them off. “How DARE you insinuate that I need help! I am perfectly capable of finding my own weyr, thank you very much!” She tried to shove past the man, but found herself wedged between him and a wall ... a real wall, this time. She was silently thankful for that, as she tried to hide the fact that her movement had tilted her precariously sideways.
The rider stepped back, still frowning, though a twinkle of amusement was in his eyes. “Pardon me, then, I'll leave you to yourself.”
As he walked away, blocking out the blazing light from the festive dining caverns, Penna continued on her way.
Lovey? Oh, Plianth, my Lovey? Where are you, darling, Penna wishes to take a little ride. I must get away from this insufferable, insulting place.
I am EATING! The gold dragon snapped back, obviously annoyed at being interrupted. She, like her rider, had been drowning her own sorrows.
Oh, Lovey, please don't be sad, the woman crooned her thoughts toward the enormous queen as she stumbled toward the feeding grounds. Rocks and walls and fences showed up as fortuitous handholds as she staggered, tipping the skin to her lips occasionally to wash down her grief. My pet, my darling, it's not your fault that little upstart, that overgrown flitter, that....
Why!? The dragon cried out dramatically, Why does SHE lay a clutch of thirty when mine were never more than ten!? Why can SHE lay a queen egg on her very first flight?! Oh, the insult, oh the pain! Once again another has climbed the ranks above me!
Penna was close enough now to see the large puddles of blood, bits of messy skin and fat, and scraps of bone that had been her dragon's most recent snack. Four? It looked like the remains of four herdbeasts lying there ... her wine-fuddled brain tried to think of what this meant, tried to tell her that once again she'd allowed her dragon to glut, tried to remember what the danger might be....
Oh, my darling lovebug, please don't cry so. You are far better than any of those wherryheads! You are large and formidable! Why, should ever dragon fight dragon, none could ever be your better! You are the most wonderful....
I am a FAILURE! Plianth cried out, accenting her pain with a roar that gurgled around the throat-full of meat and blood she was trying to swallow.
Now, now, Lovey, you'll choke, the rider soothed, as she reached the dragon, and began stroking her bloody foreleg as she once again raised the wineskin for a long swallow. As she tipped her head back, she suddenly found herself on the ground.
My One! My One! You are injured! I have failed you, too! The dragon whined, nudging her rider with a blood-smeared muzzle.
“No, no, Lovey, I am fine,” Penna said aloud. “I was just a little tired....” She sat up, her head spinning, and took another swallow. “We should take a ride, Lovely. Let's go to the shore.” she said, her words lisping through the wide gap in her teeth, “We always love swimming in the sea, it always makes us feel better.”
If dragons could sniffle, the huge queen would have done so, and wiped her nose on her sleeve for good measure. Yes, a swim, I'd like a swim -- I am all sticky, Plianth said morosely, and bent a knee for her rider to scramble aboard.
Had Penna been willing to let go of the wine, the task would have taken far less time, but eventually she was astride her queen, and the great dragon's huge wings labored to lift them skyward. With her gullet full of meat, hide and blood, she was belly-heavy and brain-light, however, and it took a waddle and stagger to the edge of the weyr bowl, where the lake spilled over the edge in a high fall of water, to get her airborne. Fortunately, Plianth's wings were sufficiently powerful, from having lifted her bulk for so long, to catch a thermal as they dropped, and carry them skyward.
The sea, the sea ... now where was that sea? Penna's vision doubled, tripled, blurred with the wine. Three glowing red points were on the horizon ... the Red Star? Three Red Stars? How strange, how could there be three Red Stars?
This was the thought in Penna's mind as she gave her dragon the command to go between.
An enormous-in-every-way gold dragon appeared from between above the lake of Araelen Weyr. Who was this queen, and how on Pern did she get here?
The gold had come out of between low, and practically fell rather than flew to the north edge of the lake. She landed heavily, with a grunt that echoed around the bowl. The rider on her back, a short, pudgy woman with close-cropped gold curls, appeared to be injured, as she flopped forward onto her dragon's neck ridges.
However, before one might have a chance to rush to her aid, the woman sat up, shook her head, and tipped a wineskin to her lips. She wasn't hurt ....
She was drunk!
Suddenly a shriek of anger burst forth that must have raised a few neck-hairs at Araelen....
“Frozen! My wine is frozen! A flask of superb Benden, ruined!”
|
|
|
Post by Flamewolf on Jun 19, 2008 22:24:22 GMT -5
Keldara was walking back to her weyr from the lower caverns. She hadn't even heard or seen the gold's approach to Araelen, but two others close to her had. A blast of cold air alerted her to Rudd's presence, and he flew down to her shoulder and started chittering at her. "Whoa, Rudd, slow down!" she said with wide eyes, startled. Imagines were blurring across her mind and she could only see large blobs of gold, tan, brown, and pale, even a bit of red.
Keldara, there's a strange queen here, her browns voice wafted to her.
"What?!?" she exclaimed, gaze snapping over to the direction of her weyr. One image solidified in her mind of a gold and a woman, her rider apparently, clutching a bottle of something to her chest. "Where are you, Galahanth?" she asked silently. A rustle of wings made her look up; he landed in front of her and she quickly mounted him. They were off with the bronze flit whizzing alongside them.
Galahanth landed off to the side of the queen, eying her curiously as he crouched down. Keldara slid off of his back and landed before cautiously making her way over to the woman. The brown shifted and raised himself into a more comfortable position as his small rider walked over to Penna. "Are you alright?" she asked, astounded to find that the goldrider was drunk. She was clutching some bottle of presumably alcohol. And what in the world was Benden Wine?!?
Are you and yours from here? Galahanth asked the gold worridly, knowing that his rider could handle the goldrider. Hopefully.
|
|
|
Post by M'kel on Jun 19, 2008 23:59:45 GMT -5
It was such a lovely day indeed, and M'kel was enjoying it by lounging on the sandy beach of the Lake. His eyes were closed against Rukbat's rays, and he had his weyrhide jacket rolled up beneath his head. The Weyrleader was contemplating a short nap after his morning labour, as a sparklingly clean Tirenth already slumbered beside him in a lovingly crafted sand wallow. After all, they had been working very hard in performing their Weyr duties lately, and he was due for...another day off.
Somehow, though, the bronzerider's days off were always ruined in one way or another, and the first warning he had of this day's excitement was the sudden darkness that struck his closed lids, as a great shadow passed overhead. M'kel opened his eyes, squinting upwards with a look of distaste, for he expected that another rider was about to land in the Lake to bathe his/her dragon. The noise would be quite a disruption to his peace, and the Weyrleader was not pleased in the slightest by this possibility.
However, at the sight of golden hide, the young man's entire body went rigid, and his eyes widened in a mixture of surprise and anxiety. Was it Sitareh on her great Aviciath? The Weyrwoman had been...less than amused over the circumstances surrounding Calith's Flight. Had she come to berate him even here? As if her public display of tossing his clothing out of their weyr wasn't enough.
A moment later, M'kel realized that the gold was not Aviciath. And yet...she seemed far too large to be either of the Sr. Weyrlings. This was incomprehensible...there were only three golds on Pern in this time, and this one looked like none of them.
Abruptly, M'kel sat straight up, grasping frantically to his side. His hand gripped the first thing it touched, Tirenth's snout, as he tried to shake the bronze awake. Tirenth reared his head with a snort, jerking his head from side to side as if to rid it of some annoying pest. Then his whirling eyes fixed dumbfoundedly on his rider, the only pest anywhere in sight. Why did you do that?
"Tirenth," M'kel choked, his voice faltering slightly. "Who is that?" A hand that wasn't quite steady pointed across the Lake.
The bronze swiveled his head, bored. If you woke me just to find out whether there's a pretty rider over there for you to flirt with... Tirenth paused, his neck suddenly arching in surprise. I...do not know this queen.
That was enough. M'kel clambered to his feet and strode off, making his way around the Lake as quickly as possible. All the while, his mind was racing. There had only been one other queen in his time, before the leap forward. She had been Artemis Weyr's aged Weyrwoman. If her rider had learned of Sitareh's rebellious plan to leap forward in order to become Weyrwoman herself and rule Pern how she wished... Then they were all in serious trouble. The elderly queen still held seniority, unless Sitareh could overrule her with a large showing of support. But if it came down to dragon against dragon...
M'kelmine, Tirenth called, plodding warily after his rider, I told you that I do not know this queen. I knew the queen of Artemis, and this is not she.
This new revelation was entirely incomprehensible, and it gave M'kel a moment of pause before he continued on. It was time to get some answers.
As he neared, the Weyrleader's eyes widened further (if physically possible) at the sight of a wine flask in the hand of the gold's rider. What...was...going...on? M'kel glanced briefly at the Weyrling brownrider who had arrived, but his hazel eyes quickly locked back upon the swooning woman. "I am M'kel, Weyrleader of Arae-" He was cut off by a sudden shriek from the goldrider, and he jumped in surprise, stopping a dragonlength from the queen. At her exclamation, the bronzerider's jaw fell open. This woman had somehow stumbled seemingly through time (unless there was some other Weyr on Pern he had no idea about!) and her main concern was some ruined wine?! It wasn't even a good vintage; everyone knew the best wine came from Lessan Hold ((ooc: haha, pardon my adherence to McCaffrey's tradition of Holds named after famous Pernese...)). None of this made sense.
"Excuse me!" M'kel called, clearing his throat authoritatively, although his voice sounded rather squeaky in his ears. "I am M'kel, rider of Tirenth, Weyrleader of Araelen Weyr. May I...ask who you are?"
Tirenth, attempting to be as composed and dignified as his rider was failing at, hoped to produce some rationality from the dragon if the rider was too far gone. My humble greetings to you, great queen. I am Tirenth. How did you and yours arrive at this Weyr?
|
|
|
Post by **Auria (etc)** on Jun 20, 2008 6:53:49 GMT -5
Penna, oblivious to her bluing skin and the ice crystals on her eyelashes, only half-registering that she'd been spoken to, choked back the tears of grief for her ruined wine. She sat squeezing the bottle to her chest, wondering if it would thaw if she held it against her. And if it thawed, would it still taste the same? Finally, temper rose above the heartache, and she flung the flask from her in fury.
It narrowly missed the head of the woman standing within a dragon's neck's reach of her queen.
This brown greets us, Plianth said groggily, and Penna could feel the gasses building up in her full belly. And a bronze who names himself Tirenth.
Brown ... she frowned toward the dragon, not in anger, but in confusion ... something about a brown rider ... what WAS that rider's name, anyway? And ... "I do not know a Tirenth," she said aloud, scowling as she tried to clear her blurry vision to look around. "Any why do my fingers hurt?" She began to notice that she was bitterly cold, and she flexed her pudgy fingers to get the circulation moving again. Little did she know that, without flight gear or harness, she had narrowly escaped a frozen death between.
Swiveling her head, she looked first at the young woman, and then at the man who had approached. Well, she may not know him, but she knew who the bronze rider was, anyway. But where was the rider of the brown ... ? Surely not that girl....
She snorted in derision, and then chuckled lightly at her own humourous thought. A girl brown rider ... what a laugh!
Suddenly, in mid-snicker, it dawned on her that she not only didn't recognize these people or a bronze named Tirenth ... she didn't recognize this Weyr.
"Pliaaannnth?" she drawled, the rise of fear beginning to warm her bones. "Lovey ... where, where....."
Wide eyes, still not quite focused, shot to the face of the man (for of course she would not address anyone here with rank less than bronze). "-- Where the SHELL am I!?"
Plianth belched loudly, filling the air around her with the scent of bloody meat, and turned toward the great bronze dragon who had addressed her. I am Plianth, she said nobly, and raised her head with pride, straightening out the fat rolls around the base of her neck so they were almost imperceptible. And this is my rider, Penna. We appear to be ... lost. Please point the way to Ista Weyr.
|
|
|
Post by C'lyn on Jun 20, 2008 15:50:33 GMT -5
L'kas had been on his way to the lake, Seath wanting a bath and an oiling. He blinked and stopped his walking as Seath suddenly went still beside him with a soft rumbling. He arched an eyebrow and followed the direction his bronze was looking in. He blinked again and his brows knitted together in confusion. He noted M'kel and his Tirenth and young Keldara and her brown Galahanth.
Seath looked at his rider, his eyes whirling in confusion. The gold he didn't know, it was the Senior Queen nor was it one of the Weyrlings. L'kas shook his head and continued his path to the lake, his curiosity in full bloom as was Seath. They paused a dragon length away and L'kas nodded to M'kel with an arched eyebrow.
Seath rumbled softly in greeting Greetings great and lovely queen, to both you and your rider,[/color] he said politely with a bow of his head. I am Seath and this is my Rider L'kas. Do you or your rider require a healer?[/color] he asked gently.
L'kas bowed courteously to the queen's rider "Greetings," he said politely, but was willing to let M'kel handle the situation, the other bronze rider was the Weyrleader after all.
|
|
|
Post by Flamewolf on Jun 20, 2008 16:49:56 GMT -5
Obviously, this gold rider wasn't going to respond to her. She frowned slightly and backed up a pace when she heard footsteps. Keldara looked over her shoulder to see the weyrleader coming over. Her gaze hardened slightly at the sight of M'kel, but she did move him away and allowed him to speak to her. Tirenth also landed, settling off to the side of the strange gold, and Galahanth dipped his head in greeting, though he doubted that the bronze would return it.
The brown weyrling figured out that the gold's name must be Pilanth, for that was what the distraught gold rider whined out. And as she blew up, the weyrling flinched slightly and was glad (though she didn't like to admit it) that M'kel was here to handle her. She glanced over to L'kas and stepped over to stand beside him. "Do you recognize her?" she whispered to him with a confused expression on her facials.
I don't think anybody does, Kel, Galahanth said to her quietly, eyes whirling in a mix of worry and aprehension.
"I don't get any of this..." she responded silently.
I don't think anybody does.
|
|
|
Post by C'lyn on Jun 20, 2008 17:39:33 GMT -5
L'kas looked at Keldara and smiled and shook his head "No, I'm not sure," he said softly, looking at Penna out of the corner of his eye. He tucked his hands into his pant pockets and frowned slightly.
Seath was unsure what to do and though he was a bit older then Tirenth he was willing to let his fellow bronze handle the situation after he had politely introduced himself and offered aid if needed.
L'kas chewed his bottom lip slightly and looked at the woman on the Gold's back, she looked drunk, but maybe she was just confused. He shook his head again and looked back to Keldara with another shrug.
I wish I knew what was going on,[/color] he said both to his rider and to Galahanth. He disliked being confused and this was a very odd occurance he was witnessing.
L'kas frowned even more deeply as a sudden thought hit him. He leaned a little closer to Keldara to speak softly "I don't know if I want to be present when Sitareh hears about this," he said with a wince. The Weyrwoman barely tolerated the weyrling queens, he didn't want to see how she would react to a full grown queen arriving.
|
|
|
Post by **Auria (etc)** on Jun 20, 2008 19:00:40 GMT -5
Penna swayed slightly high upon Plianth's large neck as the second bronze and his rider arrived.
Lovey? She asked, growing frightened, for she was certain she'd never seen any of these riders ... where was the rider of that brown, anyway? ... at any of the Gathers on Pern. And she most certainly had been to all of the Gathers and knew most of the bronzeriders, at least, by sight.
I do not know, Mine. The gold's eyes slowly began to spark and swirl faster as she picked up on her rider's fear.
Penna opened her mouth and closed it again, meeting first one pair of eyes, and then another.
He is Seath, Plianth looked at the most recent dragon to arrive, His rider is L'kas. This one ... ? She turned her gaze to the brown who had arrived first. Your name, please? Where is your rider?
The queen was fighting hard to maintain an air of noble authority, as all gold dragons must over their inferiors, but the apprehension growing in her rider was unsettling her. Plianth began to emit a low, nearly inaudible, worried-sounding hum.
I don't know these names, Plianth.... The tipsy queenrider's thoughts were vibrating with fear.
"I, we, I do not know where we are, what did you call this Weyr again? Arleenean? Arnealean? I never heard that name," Penna said aloud, the strangeness of her situation beginning to clear her thoughts ever so slightly. "And I am ... cold."
Plianth turned to Tirenth, then back to Seath, who had inquired so politely of her, and to Tirenth again.
Yours is Weyrleader? I believe we may be in trouble, she said, and the hum grew louder. I want to go home now, please!
|
|
|
Post by Flamewolf on Jun 20, 2008 22:36:06 GMT -5
It seemed that the levity of the situation was dawning on the gold rider, for her gaze become confused, and she started to speak a little bit more coherently. Keldara's gaze flickered over to L'kas, however, and winced along with him at the idea of the two gold riders meeting. "I'm there with you," she murmured in response, goosebumps traveling along her arms at the thought. That would be some interesting confrontation, but...probably not a good idea to be able to see it first-hand. Could get, well, dangerous.
Though she really didn't know too much about this gold rider and her disposition, other than the fact that apparently she had too much of a fondness for wine...
The brown blinked and focused on the gold as she spoke to him. His tail flicked behind him as he gazed at her before responding. My name is Galahanth. My rider, Keldara, is right there, he gestured with his head to the young girl, standing slightly behind M'kel and next to the other bronze rider. She was the first to arrive, he added, voice measured and calm.
Mentioned weyrling glanced over to her dragon as he pointed her out. "Gal, do you think they timed it?" she said. They were way too confused to be from around here. And must not be as well, if she carried "Benden Wine" with her.
Maybe. The gold's rider did mention that she was cold, the brown responded, gaze focused on Pilanth but watching his rider and the gold's rider out of the corner of his eye. You don't remain that cold this long after coming from /between/, he added thoughtfully.
"This just keeps getting wierder and wierder," she thought, mainly to herself, but it did drift over to the brown who rumbled in silent agreement.
|
|
|
Post by **Auria (etc)** on Jun 21, 2008 10:08:32 GMT -5
Plianth, at the response from Galahanth, visibly twitched. The growing fear in her eyes was joined by even more confusion, as she looked from the brown, to his rider, and back again.
How can this be, Mine?
Penna was beginning to feel very sleepy, and noticed that she could not feel her toes ... toes ... where were her boots? She stuck out her legs, the long gather gown fell back and revealed bare feet with toes that were positively blue. She swayed slightly, and clutched at Plianth's neck ridges to steady herself. How can what be, Lovey? her thoughts blurred for a moment before they sharpened slightly again. Her teeth began to chatter.
Brown Galahanth calls that girl his rider. Her name is Keldara.
That information pulled Penna's thoughts forward just a bit and she emitted a brief giggle. "Don't be silly," she said, and her words jumped and pitched through her shivering jaws, "Girls can't ride browns!" She reached down and tried to pat her teasing dragon on the neck, nearly slipped sideways, and caught herself just before she fell.
Plianth, growing more concerned about her rider's physical situation than the dilemma they found themselves in, shifted her gaze from bronze to bronze and back to the brown which had most recently spoken, and broadcast to all three:
Perhaps we should call the healer. I think there may be something wrong with my rider. I do not understand. We have flown to the sea many times with wine in her belly ... I seem to have failed to find the sea this time! Oh, my ... I have made a very bad error. Where is this Weyr? We have been to every Weyr, and we do not know this one.
The same thought filtered, hazily, back into Penna's mind. "Please, someone," she slurred, "Tell me where Ista Weyr went. I don't, I don't ... oh, am I dreaming? I must be dreaming. I'm laying on the beach and...." the world, already in confusion, swam around her and her stomach lurched violently, covering her beautiful gather gown in partially digested wine. "Ohhhh," she whined, "My pretty dress, all--"
And then, blissful unconsciousness descended.
Crying out in alarm, Plianth lowered herself quickly to the ground, leaned sideways, and reached around to catch her rider as she slid down the great golden shoulder. As if she'd had much practice doing this in the past, the queen gently lowered Penna's limp form to the dirt, then shifted her great bulk to hover over her protectively. Once on the ground, Penna stirred slightly, and muttered, as if sleep-talking, "So cold...."
|
|