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Naysi
Naysi yawned and climbed out of bed. She and Halurath had transferred back to Tripaldi once the Rainbow had reached adulthood. The two of them had managed to earn a place in the wings once Naysi had undergone some strength training to get her up to par with the other riders. Halurath yawned and cracked her lids; her multi-faceted eyes following Naysi as she walked into the bathing chamber in her weyr. Naysi admired her form in the mirror, still a little surprised with how much her figure had filled out with the training she’d done and the hard work she and Halurath endured as part of a wing. She shook her head at her emerging vanity and splashed some water on her face, scrubbing it lightly with a wash cloth before heading back out to the bedchamber to throw on some clothes. Just as she was pulling her shirt over her head she heard Halurath bugle happily and she rushed to pull on her breeches before making a dash back toward the bathing chamber. “Rats, got here too late again!” called B’den from the entrance laying an affectionate hand on Halurath’s head as he passed her, leaving Croluth behind on the ledge. Naysi merely smirked over her shoulder at him and tied her hair back quickly before returning to her bedchamber where B’den had just pulled their breakfast out of the kitchen shaft. “Here we go, hungry?” Naysi nodded her head and walked over to sit at the small table and chairs she’d managed to scrounge for herself. B’den hadn’t been so lucky and used that as an excuse to break his fast every morning in her weyr. She’d been upset when he’d chosen to follow her there but as he seldom mentioned Halurath’s future rising and clutch she’d finally managed to relax around him. They had become friends, of a sort, though Naysi suspected he was more comfortable with her than she was with him, and she didn’t appreciate his sense of humor, which too often involved a touch of the risqué. Naysi sat down to eat with him though and before long they had managed to polish off the entire tray. B’den grinned at her and Naysi got up, knowing full well that that particular grin was usually the beginning of another one of his jokes and today she was not in the mood. She’d been in a rather bad mood recently and couldn’t for the life of her figure out why. Halurath had been a bit touchy recently too, not always as eager to obey, nor even, amazingly, as happy to see Croluth as she usually was. Naysi frowned in thought and just then she heard B’den taking a breath behind her. She whirled on him, his mouth open; the playful look in his eyes dying as he saw the thundercloud in hers. He closed his mouth with a snap and she smirked silently to herself as she turned her back on him again, returning to the bathing chamber to check her hair in the mirror. It was still fine and she suddenly couldn’t for the life of her remember why she’d felt the need to check it. Shaking her head at her own foolishness she headed back out through the bedchamber and past the now empty stone couch to where Halurath, Croluth and B’den awaited her on the ledge. She grabbed her things ungratefully from B’den’s hands as he held them out to her and mounted quickly. B’den followed suit but wasn’t fast enough to avoid Croluth getting shouldered out of the way as she and Halurath made a hasty departure ahead of them. Croluth wasn’t that far behind them though as they all landed in the Weyrbowl preparing for sweep riding. F’rol, the wingleader and Weyrleader, who Naysi tried to stay as far from as possible watched her and Halurath land with an undeniable gleam in his eyes. Naysi tried to shrug it off but Halurath soon bugled angrily and tossed her head, her eyes swirling red in anger and Naysi, infected with her dragon’s emotions turned an accusing glare on the Weyrleader. F’rol sighed and dismounted, walking over and indicating that Naysi should do the same. He was talking before her feet touched the ground and what he had to say gave fuel to the anger Halurath was feeding her. “Naysi, you and Halurath are grounded,” he said curtly, unable to hide the roving of his eyes over her well-defined form. “What?” she growled in anger, Halurath echoing that growl and lowering her head at the Weyrleader. “You heard me, you’re grounded. I can’t have a proddy dragon in my wings distracting the males and attacking them for no reason. You’re staying behind until after that dragon of yours gets it into her mind to stop teasing everyone and actually rise. That’s an order.” That was all he had to say and Naysi, still too infected by Halurath’s anger to really comprehend what he’d said snarled and made as if to follow him and press the issue. But B’den was there, putting an arm around her waist to stop her and whispering softly in her ear. “You don’t want to get kicked out of the Weyr and if you challenge him now you will. Just do as he says and enjoy the time off. You’ll be in a better mood when he lets you come back. Trust me.” Naysi snarled at him and shrugged off his restraining arm. B’den stood watching her, the only emotions on his face concern and wariness. He would be ready if she chose to go after F’rol again and she cursed silently as she remounted Halurath and ordered the rainbow dragon back to their weyr. Later that evening B’den came to see her, obviously tired from a long day of riding sweep and doing practice wing formations. She glared at him as he walked in and sat down in one of her chairs, her expression not changing at all at the hurt look on his face. “Naysi,” he started but didn’t say anything else and as she continued to glare at him without saying a word he got up to leave. Before he left though he stopped and said over his shoulder. “Your name’s on the flight board. I didn’t put it there, I assume F’rol did. I thought you should know.” With that he left and as her resentment towards him began to fade it slowly sank in. F’rol’s reason for grounding her, what B’den had said about the flight boards. Shards! Halurath’s going to rise soon! she cursed silently to herself and as stories of dragon flights flashed through her head she shuddered and curled in on herself, hugging herself in fear and misery and hoping against all hope that they were wrong, that she would be safe from that terrifying experience. |