Sovereign Fate - Magical Moneymaker Tour -- Flight Tour --

Prax: Female Age 20's or so Pronghorn Gazelle Bonded: Pastel Rainbow Univoqueruseth Strong willed and fairly smart, vocal and sensible about things. Plays flutes, reeds, and sings

Bhargol: Male Age 35? River Otter Bonded: Red Brown Gloutonth The band's manager, a money fiend, consumed with greed most of his waking hours, and many of his dreams too.

Sovereign Fate: Male Age ?? Black Panther Bonded: Gold-Black flame Assassinezth An assassin known for his supreme prowess and stealth, and also known for his expensive tastes in homes, art and the like.

Leevi: Female Age 18 Red Deer Bonded: Yellow Green Lacinath More simpleminded than complex, worries a lot, but enjoys herself. Plays laser keys, and several stringed instruments, vocals

Kmarks: Male Age 28 Black Lion Bonded: Copper Brown Vaillanth Brave, but not stupid, dependable, pleasant. Plays drums of all kinds

Enoi: Male Age 22 Snow Leopard Bonded: Silver Blue Plath Quiet, observant and smooth, rarely bothered about anything. Plays bass guitar

The dragons were a handful for a band to take care of. But it was fortunate for them that Utopian was filled with people willing to help. Older riders and young children alike enjoyed helping feed, clean and clean up after the growing dragonets. This gave the group a little time together, which they used to form new tunes. "I think this will work right," Enoi said, plucking a slow solo on his bass, "what do you think?" "I can work with that," Kmarks nodded, he chose to use hand-held drums for the piece they worked on, it gave the work a natural feel. Enoi contiuned his bass-playing, while Kmarks beat a rhythm. Leevi giggled, twirled through the room and sang a wordless tune along with them. Outside, her yellow-green dragoness could be heard to sing along. Kmarks felt around with his foot and deftly tossed Leevi a tambourine so she could provide another sound as well. "I like this one," Prax grinned while she chose a simple flute to accompany the others. They played for a brief while, to the delight of the servants who gathered outside the large multi-level den the group had been given. "Twilight Delight," Enoi said, jotting down a series of notes on a paper, "does that sound like a good title?" "Works for me," Prax said, tooting on the flute one last time before they quit. From the ground, outside, their dragons gathered similarly. They had grown quite a bit since their hatching, but they could sense the restlessness in their bonds. The big flame colored dragon Assassinezth had moved on with his bond - the namesake of the band, Soverign Fate, several months ago. Everyone felt safer with them farther away. However, this day they came back. In the eternal twilight at Utopian, a big dramatic flame-marked dragon swooped over the island and landed near the group of bandmembers' dragons. The black furred feline rider dropped to the ground, and even the dragons parted for him to move through their ranks.

Soverign Fate approached the den where he heard music and laughter, and paused. He was enjoying himself far more with the beautiful dragon he rode - it felt halfway out of character for him to be all pleasant but he had to force himself into a grim-looking state so that he would be taken seriously. "I would speak with you," he announced at the den's wide door, and everyone stopped playing. Moments before, their dragons had tried to warn them of the impending arrival, but had been gleefully ignored by the musicians. "... About what?" Prax asked, standing and putting her reed flutes down. "Actually," Soverign Fate looked at her with a wry twist on his eyes, "I needed to speak to the men. It isn't urgent, but I've learned about certain places which also breed dragons." "There are tons of them," Kmarks said, not letting his grip on the smallish drum he held go. "Why would you come here to tell us that?" "Because there are several which your dragons - and mine - might be well suited to mating at." Fate grinned inwardly at the expressions that garnered. "Well... they are old enough," Enoi pondered. "And they have been acting annoying lately." "Especially around the girl dragons," Leevi found it amusing, and was half-able to laugh. Fate still frightened her to no end. Soverign Fate turned to Kmarks, "wouldn't you like to see your dragon and mine work out who's best?" "There is no question," Kmarks said, baring his fangs and spine fur bristling, "that Vaillanth would be chosen. But you're on." The others gave somewhat shocked expressions at this. Kmarks wasn't known to put anything on the line unless he really believed in it, so either his fear of Fate was less than anyone else's, or his dragon below was fluffing out and affecting his rider. That was very probably the case.

"Why would our dragons be best for these flights, Fate?" Enoi asked. "Couldn't we find our own flights?" "These," Fate said, finally tearing his glowing eyes away from Kmarks', "are flights for multi-colored dragons. The females have been waiting for the right partners to show up." He looked back at Kmarks, "Our bold bonds might not even fly for the same one, so don't worry." "Oh, I'm not worried." Kmarks insisted. "So, where are they?" "A place called Tripaldi, they have a special secluded area where the bicolor females are waiting. I believe there are three of them." "Well that's all very fine and well for the guys," Leevi said, "but what about us?" "Yes, Fate, how about us?" Prax asked, blinking sweetly above a twisted grin, "you want to separate us?" "No, no," he said, honestly. "Let me ask you something, to put this in perspective, young Prax." She nodded, so he continued. "When you first bonded, as I did, you felt everything that your dragon did. Their hunger, their tiredness, all of it." "Uh huh," Prax said, and Leevi leaned on her hoofstock-friend. "So what do you think a post-adolescent male dragon is thinking about?" Fate completed, and Enoi burst out laughing. "Nothing but! All the time! What a hassle!" The girls turned to him, and Leevi giggled. "No wonder the men of the hatching have been getting all... manly. It isn't as if their female counterparts have been making it any easier on them, either." Prax nodded, "sure. But then still, what about us? Do we just go with you guys and wait?" "Well I could hardly break up your band, now, could I?" Fate said, glancing around, "and where is that manager of yours?" "Why?" Kmarks asked, "going to rough him up for some cash today?" "Ah, so he told you about that, did he?" "He did." Kmarks didn't look very pleased. "I suppose it could be arranged differently, more officially, but then we'd be held accountable for your actions, accessory to murder and that kind of thing." "So you approve of my roughing up then?" Fate grinned, toothy. "I don't," Bhargol muttered, coming in from the ledge outside with a winded-looking Gloutonth fanning his wings broadly. "But we could just as well use this as an excuse to get your lazy butts back on tour." "Exactly," Fate said.

"Well then it's a good thing you're looking out for us, Fate," Enoi said. "So how do we get there, and where do we sign up?" "Assassinezth can give your dragons the coordinates. If you don't want to follow him, there are charts and instructions on file here, I believe." "Thanks," Kmarks said, turning to go find them. Enoi put his white paw on the drummer's shoulder and Kmarks grudgingly stopped. "It's all right, we can follow him. Plath would have said something if you were planning on letting us drift through space or teleport into a volcano or something." Fate looked a little confounded, as he said, "well actually most weyrs *are* in volcanoes... Only they're dormant or dead. They make excellent dragon housing."

The group loaded their belongings, and sent a messenger ahead to Tripaldi to know they were going to arrive. They could be set up as a traveling band, of course, but they would also be participating in the flights. Fortunately, more than one flight lay open. The whole time that the group were reading up on the females participating, Fate and Kmarks were jostling for a position that their lifemate would work best in. Of course, they both chose to sign up for the white-gold's flight. The attendant of the flight zone came to see what the commotion was all about, as the group of six dragons landed in their special flight area. "Well... what's all this about then! Calm down!" Deriam held up his hands and smacked the clipboard he had loudly. Everyone shut up. Leevi and Prax wandered away - this was none of their business, was it! "Thank you," Deriam said. "I can tell you guys are ... excited to be participating, but you're not accepted yet, so just get settled in." "What do you mean, not accepted yet?" Fate growled. The black feline bristled. "I mean, you have yet to sign up and present your information. I can see that your dragons will be acceptable to the females, but whether or not they'll be allowed to fly is still in question. I must have you all fill some of these forms out..." He handed out a paper to the guys, and then cleared his throat again. "And, I need to know your dragons' origins." "They are all from the Utopian Holiday clutch," Enoi said, "But there were a dozen dragons flying in the mating flight that laid those eggs. We've no idea who each dragon's parents are." Deriam made a note, and grunted. "Go on." He ticked something, and Enoi got a worried look on his snow-white face. "What do you mean, go on? I mean, there they are," he waved his paw, "everything about them is pretty obvious, don't you think?" "Not completely..." Deriam said, squinting at the foursome of colorful dragons. "But I suppose that I can wheedle some information from them, if not from you." He glanced at the furry men, "please have those filled out by the time I get back." "Sure... no problem," Bhargol said, examining the paperwork. It read like a medical questionare. "I've seen easier tests taken at temporal-physics study halls..." Kmarks groaned. Fate put on a false grin, acting like he'd gotten the hang of all these questions more easily than the others. "I tell you this," Enoi said. "One of our dragons had best win a flight here," he grumbled at Fate, "or your little money-collecting sham is over. You dragged us here, that's your gamble." Taken by surprise at the snow-leopard's forward statement, Fate mulled it over. "... Well, if you insist. It will be more important to the dragons that they succeed, and they've got to be prepared. None of our dragons have had more experience in the field than any other - believe me, Assassinezth has been practicing, but we've not had any 'combat' lately." "Even field," Kmarks said, "that sounds good to me." He looked at the sky, and saw a brilliant yellow-white flash. "Oh, so that's her, I bet..." He said of the lovely Ryslen born queen. "She is pretty. And fast, too. Our bonds'll be in for a ride, I think." "So will we..." Fate said. "So will we..." *** After the flights, and not one of their number had won - though some had come quite close - the "deal" that Fate had with the group was done. He was willing to admit defeat, Sovereign Fate was good for his bet. However, he did attend a number of their concerts later on. A more formal arrangement? He would be willing to front a studio for them, if he could be cut in to their tour profits. Bhargol pondered this for a week of prosperous touring. He was about to tell Fate "no" but then the whole bunch (back together after successful flights by the girls) demanded to do an album that could be released in whatever format local wares could handle. So Fate and his namesake remain attached, and on slightly friendlier terms than before.