Sytoqual gritted his teeth as he tried to keep the young chestnut colored stallion on the ground. Gathers at Weyrs with young runnerbeasts being present were never really the best of things. The runners would always be scared stiff of the dragons and the combination of noise along with the predators being so close made it even worse.
"Easy boy! Easy!" he first shouted then murmured as the runner obeyed finally. He stroked the stallion's velvety muzzle and carefully slipped on a makeshift halter. Clipping a lead onto the halter he led the nervous runner around the circle before leading the runner over to Latema. His on the rode "mother" had decided that her caravan would stay for a while at Harana Weyr until the day of the 19 turn old boy's impression would be made. Latema smiled at him as she received the lead rope from Sytoqual. The chestnut woofed softly finally calming some. "Careful with this lad," Latema smiled and thumped the runner's neck lightly, "He's a bit skittish, but from what I've heard about your runners, you should be fine, Tambo." The man whom Latema was talking to nodded and looked to Sytoqual. "You seem to handle runnerbeast well," Tambo smiled, "Ever think of becoming a runner jockey? I'm going to need one for this beast" "Thank you sir," Sytoqual smiled bowing slightly, "I never thought of such a thing. Sadly at this time I must decline. I'm a candidate at this Weyr, ya' see." Here Sytoqual pointed at the candidate knots on his shoulder with the Weyr's crest on the top of it. Tambo frowned slighly but nodded his understanding. "They've picked a good one, keep the dragons in line and calm," Tambo smiled as a man approached him on the other side. The other man shook his head, a smirk clearly always part of his features. "Quit kidding the boy, Tambo," he smirked, "You know very well that dragons 99% of the time don't act like that sad excuse for a dragon's meal you just bought." The runnerbeast owner quickly covered his newest runner's ears. "C'fron don't spout things like that, he might know what you said and spook again!" Tambo hissed jokingly. "He'll really spook when Trith has to take him between back to Ganatek Hold," C'fron told him leading the man off towards the direction of a green dragon. Sytoqual raised an eyebrow as he watched the now obviously greenrider mount the dragon. The chestnut squealed at the sight of the dragon but was soon calmed by Tambo as he blindfolded the beast. Gently the green, who was most likely Trith, wrapped her claws about the chestnut and lifted him from the ground. Tambo quickly scrabbled up to her neck to get strapped in just before the dragon took off with the horse giving a slight whinny of fear before jumping between. "Where were they from?" Sytoqual asked Latema who was chuckling at how the two men and dragon had handled the situation. "Ah, C'fron, green Trith's rider, is from Talor Cliff Weyr. Tambo's runner that he has back at Ganatek have each either come in first or second in the maidens." Sytoqual whistled in admiration of the feet. "Quit bein' such a wherry-cock, Sytoqual," a voice shot at the man coolly. Sytoqual rolled his eyes as he turned to the raven haired girl who's hair was made up of countless numbers of braids; her young blue fire lizard chirped a happy greeting at him. Sytoqual truly had no problems with the girl except for one or two things, she for some unknown reason was annoyed by him and because of this fact he felt the need to annoy her more.
"Nothing, it's what I was sent here to do," she sighed, two drinks in her hand. Forcibly she gave the drink to the older candidate and made a motion for him to go a head of her. She gave a quick apology to Latema before catching up with him. In the time that Sytoqual had walked ahead, not knowing really where he was supposed to be going, the wild haired man grew suspicious at Nagie's intentions and stopped sipping the red fruit drink, which was quite hard considering it was the best he'd ever tasted. "Yes I made it, Sytoqual," Nagie told him from behind, something close to amusement coloring her voice, "And it's not spiked. I was just told to get you by a visiting dragonrider. How he ever heard of me or you I have no idea, wouldn't give a name either says it's a secret." She seemed to giggle at this and Sytoqual wondered if perhaps the girl had spiked one of the glasses yet had given him the wrong one, she was much more cheery than she'd ever been around him… oddly he was quite comfortable with the mood. "So where is this rider?" he asked in a seemingly unimpressed fashion. Nagie's mood seemed to grow dark and Sytoqual cursed at having sounded so blunt. The black haired girl sniffed and pointed to a huge blue dragon, one that by far was the size of a small adult bronze. The most distinct feature of the blue was what seemed to be a pointed strip that ran from his top ridge to about the middle of his head. "I see how they could gather attention," Sytoqual whistled winning a slight smile and a nod from the girl now next to him. As the two approached the blue, Sytoqual noticed the blue's rider. He was around 6' tall, perhaps a bit shorter, with dark red almost brown hair and his eyes were covered by what looked like glasses though the glass seemed much darker, perhaps even thinner than reading glasses. The odd thing was that he seemed to be smug about something, as if he were an old friend who had not been seen in turns. "Nagie. Sk-Sytoqual," the rider smiled in a seemingly dry way. Sytoqual looked at the man questionably and then at the blue who seemed not to care about anything about him though his eyes seemed to smile down at the two candidates for Harana Weyr's first clutch. "Do we know you, bluerider?" Sytoqual asked and the rider seemed to chuckle. Sytoqual immediately become irked by the rider's chuckles. "Well do we or don't we, rider," Nagie questioned him in the way Sytoqual seemed to feel. The rider tipped the glasses down his nose slightly and smiled impishly. "In time you will," the rider smiled, "I've just come to make a friendly wager on a race that's coming up." Both Nagie and Sytoqual look at the bluerider oddly. Sytoqual seemed to find it odder that he was willing to take the bet without knowing what race it was on. "But why bet with us, why not with the riders from your own Weyr?" Nagie asked. The bluerider coughed and smiled in a sweet manner at the young woman. "I'm the only one from my Weyr who was able to make it today," he smiled winningly, "Now about that race." Squal chuckled, some how he already felt comfortable with the bluerider and believed him. A slightly simmering Nagie told him that she was still leery about him. "How does he even know our names?" she growled out of the corner of her mouth at the 19 turn old, "As far as I know we've only meet him!" "Nagie, don't go paranoid right now," Sytoqual chuckled, "Many a bet has been made with people that others do not know. And as for how he knows us, probably because we were the first candidates to set foot in Harana; he probably heard about your cook though too." Nagie seemed to scowl at him for the remark. Why did she always have to take his complements the wrong way? With a sigh from Sytoqual, they followed the nameless bluerider. Soon they ended up near the races; it seemed that the last race of the gather was about to take place as the runnerbeasts were walked about in large oblong circles. "Ah, good we haven't missed the last one yet," the bluerider mumbled to himself and turned to the two candidates, "It will be a simple bet no money just a quick bet from me." He seemed to take his time looking out over at the runners who were readying themselves for their race. "I'll take that silvery filly over there with the Delaway colors as being the winner of the race." On the shoulders of the candidates the two fire lizards chirped questionably reflecting what their bondeds felt. The Delaway filly was skin and bones; She looked as if she hadn't been groomed in a few sevendays and nearly looked lame. "Just a bet on that hage?" Sytoqual asked in disgust at the filly, "You must be betting us something you really don't want." "Then you won't mind it right off, eh?" the bluerider drawled. Suddenly both candidates had grasped the bluerider's hands to officialize the bet. "We'll bet on the chestnut stallion from Rohlen," they said in unison startling each other on actually agreeing on something. The green and blue fire lizards chittered happily, sure that their bondeds had made the right choice. "Good then," the bluerider chuckled softly, "Then should the filly win I only ask that the two of you dance with one another once tonight." "What?" Sytoqual asked in startlement. "No way!" Nagie cringed. "Oh, it's just one dance, be thankful that I'm not making a money bet," the bluerider snorted in his confidence. "And if we win?" Nagie asked folding her arms, her temper just barely being controlled. "As I said, in time you'll know me," he smiled, "Should your runner or any other runner beat out the one I choose I will give you my name as well as my blue's." By now all the runners were at the starting line. The stands seemed deadly silent and the trio turned towards the race without further discussion. A flag was waved furiously and the runnerbeast sprinted forward, Sytoqual and Nagie's chestnut in the lead. The filly was near the rear of the pack causing the two candidates to be a bit over confident in their pick. As the last few dragonlengths were approached suddenly the filly shifted gears and almost seemed to bound ahead of each of the competitors. Sytoqual and Nagie were awe struck as the filly flashed across the finish line a good dragonlength ahead of competition. They turned to the bluerider who was smiling through his dark glasses. Both suppressed a groan.
"Shells!" Sytoqual growled out and glared down at Nagie. That was the fifth time she'd stepped on his feet this song and it had only just started! Nagie seemed deep in thought though at that moment, looking at her feet trying to make them work correctly. Her face seemed to show herself wincing as she once again stepped on the 19 turn old's feet again. Sytoqual sighed and cleared his throat. "Here, if we have to dance because of a lost bet let's save my feet and your dignity," he chuckled and couldn't help but smile at the surprised look on Nagie's face as she looked up at his statement. True Sytoqual wasn't the best of dancers but he knew enough of how not to step on a person's feet during it. With a few words of encouragement and a lot of patients, Nagie slowly stopped stepping on his toes and seemed to relax more in Sytoquals arms. "That's it," he smiled, "Now you've got it. Just relax and it should help some." Over Nagie's shoulder Sytoqual sighted the mysterious bluerider, whom now gave him two thumbs up as well as a smirk. Sytoqual straightened raising an eyebrow at the slightly older man only to find the music had changed to a rousing beat. "OK, now I know I can't do that!" Nagie stated releasing herself from Sytoqual's arms as she took in the twirling that was going on now. Sytoqual chuckled. "Yeah, you're right," he snickered, "You'd step on more than my feet just twirling once." As growl came in reply from Nagie. The next thing Sytoqual knew though, the girl was pulling him across the floor. Nagie daftly made Sytoqual dance with her for most of the song. Nagie nearly knocked into him when the call went out. "Everyone! The eggs are beginning to hatch!" Weyrwoman Yulara commanded, "Everybody needs to get their hides to the Sands. Candidates need to get their robes on immediately and wait for their dragon accompaniment to the Sands." Nagie and Sytoqual looked at one another. They'd been the first candidates to have step foot into the new Weyr a month or so back. The day they'd been waiting for so long was now finally here.
Sytoqual lifted one foot and then the other. He tired to ignore the burning under his sandaled feet, his only comfort was that he was not the only one to be lifting his feet. He looked about and found Nagie, she was staring intently at the eggs barely moving her feet at all. Probably because she was used to burns, Sytoqual thought. His thoughts were brought back to the sands as the eggs began rocking. The first egg shattered seconds later leaving a green in its place. The impression of the green seemed fairly quick as his attention was quickly taken away by a handsome darkly colored blue. Sytoqual wasn't too surprised when the blue impressed to the blue haired Rhadoc. He'd always thought the young man's hair coloring was a bit odd, yet at the same time quite interesting.
"Let's go get you some food, Fargrinth," he smiled lovingly as the brown's mind fully filled his. He now felt complete; Sytoqual had never known that he'd felt incomplete before but now he knew that some how he'd only be half living his life. He led his brown off the sands, his hand laid upon the brown's neck. The brown cooed at his lower ranking brother and sister who were already with their choosens Sytoqual, the brown asked almost tripping over his feet causing the teen to steady his brown, Ebirith says that his rider's name is now R'doc. Does that mean you will shorten your name? Tradition has the male dragonriders shorten their names, so yes. I believe I'll be called S'qual now. S'qual… I like that, it is you! From some of your most resent memories you seem to put at least one person into what is called a squall nearly every day, and without really saying a word S'qual chuckled at Fargrinth for being so fast as you check his memories. He'd only impressed his dragonet a few minutes earlier and he already knew why riders and dragons would die for one another. What Pern held next for them was most likely known only by Faranth herself.
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