"We won't be late," she heard him say, his voice echoed along the walls and floor. "We can't be late."
"We will be if you don't get dressed! I swear! How long can it take to put on pants and a shirt?" Rue steamed.
At long last, actually only a number of seconds later, Shard came from their dressing room and pulled the white fluffy part of his two-toned hair back into a tail with a long leather strip. He was grinning, one of those cat-grins which Rue both loved and hated.
"How can we be late, if we're arriving from another world and time, sweet?" He kissed her forehead, and she snarled. Her dress was more appropriate than his ... what was he wearing, a tank top?! She almost started to say something, but then remembered that he'd call her silly.
If they were to be on time, then, she stifled herself, and pulled her riding cloak around her shoulders. Shard never seemed to wear his riding jacket any longer, in the sun of Paniya's sub-tropical skies, the flights on their dragons were much nicer than they had been before.
Outside their den, though was a surprise. The tall blond-haired brown rider Etan. He stood with his long legs crossed at the ankles and appeared somewhat comfortable leaning against the wall.
"We're running late," she said before Shard could shut her up. He put his long finger by her lips to quiet her, and she bit down -- hard -- on it.
Wincing, but still grinning like an imp, Shard tossed his head and said, "We're off to Ryslen's Flurry. I heard some of our riders were in it, so we might just as well see who bonds to the hatchlings."
"Mnpf ngee nggt ffrr mmn ngttmnf," Rue stated, her teeth still clamped on the dark blue finger Shard had so eagerly presented. He tugged it free, pretending it hurt worse than it did, as Rue said, "if we get there on time. And," she grinned, "if the dams are willing to tell whose eggs belong to whom. If I recall correctly, their triple hatching yeilded a lot of interesting dragons, but none of the greens said which egg belonged to whom."
"I remember," Shard said, wagging his finger in the air to get the blood back in it, "in fact I think wasn't it Rogue and Dancer bonded at that hatching?"
"And Ling and Wing," Rue laughed. "I'll NEVER be able to tell them apart... Their dragons are light and dark you know," she told Etan, though he knew it already. Of course.
They walked together to the ledges on the Isle's eastern face. The single mesa-topped mountain island that the Protectorate had 'appropriated' for the duration fit perfectly in with the Caer Island's peak-and-flats. Everything had turned green, as well. Blossoms and fruits were nearly everywhere, and there were colorful Alis-gryphs calling from branches outside.
The pair of dragons waiting had been joined by the third, brown Utainth. The brown was looking a little lean, and Shard commented, "he's been traveling hard through something, hasn't he?"
Etan nodded, but did not elaborate as to where they had been, or when. He tended to travel far and wide, neither Shard nor Rue had ever journeyed with him.
The brown was bigger than Shard's Jeremoth by only a few arms-lengths. Jere ... was growing fat. That fact drew a crinkle-eyed grin out of Etan. "Well, domesticity suits that blue monster, doesn't it?"
Rue laughed, "He'd eat anything you put in front of him, and then some. Sometimes he steals Beirissath's lunch too!"
"He does not!" Shard whined, though he knew it was true. Jere was not really required to go out and do much of anything these days. But then again, neither was Shard. He spent his time swimming, cliff diving (to Rue's feigned heart-attacks), and watching the rest of Alskyr be busy. He had no interest in fighting Ants or whatever the current threat-in-vogue was. There were lots of other people, younger ones, to do that.
Green Beirissath had calmed down from a somewhat snippy young thing into quite the den partner for her blue mate. They still looked for sands proper for them to clutch upon, neither of them for some reason wanting to remain at the Healing Den for it. She didn't want to get too close to the brown, though. Something about him made her nervous, and Rue tried to calm her dragon.
He's traveled, leave him be. She thought.
He is still planning things, even now... I do not like him, he made you forget things.
I know. They're things I would rather forget. And he does it to Shard all the time.
That does not make it right.
Beirissath knelt while her rider climbed to her shoulders, and flaired out her wings. They kept their thoughts private from both Etan and the other dragons. Shard noticed they had gotten all quiet, though, and nodded at Etan.
They're still angry that you set us up.
Why would they be angry, Shard? Do you not love her?
I do, and she's the only woman I could ever settle down with like we have. But I think having the option open for us... You know, to choose it for ourselves?
Your dragons would have decided that any way, Etan said, lying. "Are we going straight there?" He asked aloud, while Utainth lifted him to his neck. Shard as always flew without a harness, and Jeremoth wouldn't have it any other way.
"I think we could go pick up Baeris. She said something about wanting to see it too," Shard said.
"Then off to the Den, then!" Rue said, and envisioned the flat darkness of the asteroid, and a singular number glowing atop the entrance dome...
Laughing, of course it didn't. That was impossible. Baeris? Lumpy? Her big lazy old flitter Striker dove down and pounced on some ... thing... which had scuttled out of a hole near the floor.
"Good boy, you get that little critter. Can't understand how there are rats in a blasted place like this..." She said, and tried not to listen to the flitter's eager munching. "You don't have to eat every one of them you know," she chided him, "you're still begging for treats and you know you're getting chubby."
The flit eyed his mistress with a bit of fur and blood on his muzzle, and cheeped. Whether he understood her or not, he didn't seem to care. The food was still warm...
You might want to tame that ego of yours, my rider, Dulath thought with a mental grin. You're getting visitors. Shard, Rue and Etan.
"And Etan, that's a switch..." She muttered, picking up her dark leather coat and flinging it over her arm. Tell them I'll meet them in the entrance hall.
They are already there. So am I. We're waiting... Rue says we're late.
"How can we be late if we're traveling through --" Dulath cut her off with a laugh...
"Tiyanni sent me the list of who paired, it's a great looking bunch of flights," Baeris commented as she reached the wide semi-dome hallway. Etan still remained on Utainth's back, while Rue and Shard had gotten down from their dragons. Though it was more out of habit than anything else, Rue still half-glowered with jealousy as Shard embraced the healer. She wasn't 'actually' jealous, but it always looked best if Shard thought she was.
"I wonder who is sending candidates," Shard asked, as they got back onto their dragons. Dulath of course was only a third the size of Beirissath, tiny and gold-tinted green beside the rich foresty-tone of the Lasair dragoness.
"We'll never know until we get there, sweet," Rue said, and they kicked up into the air again.
When they arrived, it was to a still-snowing winter... Shard immediately regretted not having any coat or riding gear on now! He shivered with the cold, and Rue laughed mockingly at her mate.
"Oh, no, it's only a hatching. Sands are always warm... Don't bother to bring your winter gear, it'll be fine, he says..." Rue said, returning his words of the afternoon just before they left. Shard tried rolling his eyes, they were apparently frozen in place, and simply stood shivering with his arms clutched around his chest, until Rue smacked him on the shoulder and led them all inside.
There, at the near entrance of the sands, they saw -- "K'yl? And Lord Engell!" Rue chirped. She was amazed to see this pair from Alabaster here, since they'd come to Alskyr she thought they were never coming back to the old world.
"I've got a flit," he said, indicating it with a turn of his eyes. The flitter was tiny ((the picture is "adult" sized)) and poked out from his hair timidly. "Come out, Snowflake... It's all right. They're friends."
Most of them? He thought to Etan, who smirked and nodded.
All of us, child.
Stop calling me that and I'll stop thinking poorly of you, 'grand-dad'...
If I had sired you, you wouldn't have grown up to be a Lord, now would you?
Engell paused for a moment, and then chuckled, "no, I woudln't. I'd be an outcast like yourself, and that would hardly do. At least my father had the taste to remain landed and monied. Not like Hollis' tasteless crew."
"Hollis isn't tasteless," Shard butted into the conversation, though he had no clue what had just gone on before it. "He actually tastes quite nice. Vanilla--"
Rue smacked him, and he shut up. Thankfully.
"I think it's soon," Engell said oddly. "And yes, I came to see it. I think. Something just -- you didn't, did you?" He cast a glaring eye at Etan, who shook his head.
"I had nothing to do with anything, not this time. Whatever crawled into your head did it without my help."
"That's a relief," Engell breathed. He gave an appreciative glance at Baeris when she removed her long flight-coat, and Rue had to reel in Shard's slobbery tongue before he made an ass out of himself.
Striker came back, flying in front of a pair of servants who escorted the group into the Sands. Tiyanni waved and seemed already busy with greeting other lords and ladies, holders and officials from different places. There were quite a few dragons on the sands...
And a lot of little mounds, eggs, scattered all over. Baeris took a look at the list of participants again, and whistled. "There will be a lot of bonding today..." She said.
"Looks like it's starting..." Rue said, tugging on the other woman's sleeve, "let's get a nice warm spot, I don't care where THEY sit..." She looked at Shard and stuck out her tongue, laughed, and they all found an area near Tiyanni and the other weyr representitives. They were gathered, happy...
Engell seemed somewhat distracted, his son had gone up to view the hatching from the top of the stands, with some young locals. They all watched eagerly, as the eggs trembled...