1: Suprise Search

0
00
000
0000
00000
0000
000
00
0

1: Surprise Search
This was lovely.
Dani grinned widely as she stretched her long body out, enjoying the warmth of a pernese sun on her bronzetoned skin. It had been ages since she'd been to a Pernese gather, and she was glad she'd made the trip, for all the odd looks her clothing was getting her.
Though she'd lived in mirror-pern for 12 years, it was not her native home, nor her current home. Two years ago her uncle had moved to noctournicus, a more well-known area of mindspace, to make his life there. She enjoyed the city, particularly the clothing-- pernese clothes were nice, but the modern fashions of noctournicus were too alluring for her to ignore-- but there were just some things she missed about Pern. The air, the sun, the atmosphere of a good gather. It was all excellent.
Her firelizards were enjoying it as much as she was, it seemed. Moonshadow and Karma chased each other through the air, their shimmering hides living up to their name in the bright southern sunlight. She stopped at a stand and bought herself some klah, watching the two chase each other through the air. It was almost hypnotizing, watching those bright hides, and she noticed with amusement that she was not the only one focusing on her two magnificent firelizards.
"Those two firelizards yours?"
The voice came from behind her, and she would've started, were it not for the familiar tone behind the words. Turning, she saw the speaker-- and smiled. Raum, jr. weyrleader of the Black Sheep Weyr, Adel's mate. She waved her hand to the bronzerider in greeting, eliciting a smile from the goat anthro.
Raum made her way over to Dani, nimbly maneuvering around the crowd. Yes, she: Raum was one of the many odd flukes mindspace tended to produce, a female bronzerider. But she made an excellent weyrleader, with a sense of warm patience to placate even the most difficult of riders and folk unhappy with some small aspect of the weyr that most other people liked. "What are you doing here?" she asked the human, hands shoved deep into the pockets of her pants.
Dani shook her head, hugging the jr. weyrleader in greeting. "Is that any way to greet an old friend?" she said, jokingly. There was no pompous circumstance here-- Raum was not one for formality, and Dani was happy to oblige that. "I'm just visiting. Uncle said I could come to this gather. I think I was getting nostalgic again." She grinned cheekily, and followed raum's eyes, which had suddenly caught on the two playing firelizards.
"They look happy, and healthy." Raum said, nodding to the two creatures. "I remember them as hatchlings. And that's disappointing news; i'd hoped you were here to stay."
Dani sighed at that, nodding. "I'd hoped the same. But apparently not, unless one of the Black Sheep queens has clutched anything?" there was a hopeful note in her voice, and Raum smiled. It was no secret that Dani wanted a dragon, had always wanted a dragon. And honestly, Raum couldn't blame her-- they were lovely creatures to have, she thought, glancing to the heights where her own bronze was lounging beside his golden mate.
"Unfortunately not. Kalumyth's most recent clutch just hatched, and the other queens clutched earlier in the turn. So I'm afraid you're out of luck, as far as mindspace is concerned." she paused, feeling a pang of sympathy when the younger girl's face fell. She could relate-- how many times had she asked that same question, to recieve the first answer. "Cheer up." she said, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder. "There are clutches elsewhere. Actually, some searchriders from a weyr on Pern asked me recently if I knew of any candidates."
Dani glanced up sharply at this, her face once more gaining the hopeful expression of before. "Honestly? What weyr?"
"A good one." Raum smiled, grabbing the younger girl's wrist impulsively and tugging in a gesture that clearly said, 'follow me.' "Wu weyr, I've been there once or twice. C'mon, let's go ask Danshyith if you're right for their clutch." The set of actions were somewhat random, but that Wu weyr had been asking for candidates was something Raum had only then remembered. Dani was a special girl, she'd be perfect for a dragon, and this seemed an excellent opportunity.
After ducking through what seemed like a whole sea of people, they reached the heights the dragons were perched on. Danshyith and his mate, Kalumyth, had both winged down to the ground, to meet the two. Raum immediately embraced her bronze, who returned the greeting with a nuzzle, before swinging his head around to regard Dani with familiarity. She patted the bronze on the offered muzzle, repeating the gesture with the gold, who also sniffed her familiarly, looking faintly pleased.
"Hullo, Danshyith and Kalumyth. It's nice to see you again, I hope you are well?" dani said to them, respectfully bowing as she did so. They crooned approvingly, turning to regard raum as the goat anthro spoke up.
"Danshy, Kalu, I was thinking that Dani here would make a perfect candidate for Wu weyr. But I wouldn't know, I haven't seen the eggs, nor do I have that weird power you guys have to know who the perfect candidates are. So, what do you think?"
Both dragons turned their heads to regard Dani again, and suddenly she felt very awkward and small. They were looking at her as they never had before, as if they could see every aspect of her soul and self. But she had nothing to hide. Eventually, they turned back to raum again, looking pleased.
Raum smiled after a moment, extending her hand to dani. "Congrats. They said you're good to go. Check with your uncle, and if he okays it, I'll take you to Wu as soon as you'd like."
Dani could barely suppress her pleasure. Hugging both the weyrleader and the dragons, she bowed to them all, calling her firelizards to her mentally. "Thank you all! I'll go check now, and we can go as soon as the gather's over."
Raum nodded, laughing. "Alright, alright. Then I'm off to enjoy the remainder of the gather. Meet me back here when rukbat starts setting?"
"Of course" dani said with a wide grin. "And thanks all again~" she called, as she made her way to a small booth conveniently selling small slips of hide for messages and the utensils with which to write said messages. Well now, this was an unexpected and happy turn for her life to take. She couldn't wait.