Gold Jyotirth's Flight (written by Shard)

The end of the ninth (well, eighth and ninth) hatching had just come, and everyone was reveling in the moment.

That moment included a rather loud bellowing from in the upper part of the domed sands. Angry, snarling not unlike that which Eshishy's green had done before. But this was on a scale that every dragon rider knew was bigger. Much bigger. They looked up and saw the glowing form of Jyotirth, young gold from the Kshau Protectorate, snapping and snarling at the local dragons.

She shot away through one of the large openings in the sands chamber, and into the night sky... Pursued by several males!

"... A flight, now?" Xalia said. She glanced around and saw the furry-girl Aynatchavay who Jyotirth was bonded to. "You planning on controlling your queen when she-"

"Yes," Aynatchavay snapped, her eyes unfocused and angry. "Yes. I'll... meet you outside if you've got help for me. I may need it..." The feline-human lawyer closed her eyes - but it didn't help. She still could see a swirling mess of red-tinted landscape, which she knew to be from her dragon bond. Aynatchavay paced herself, walking carefully and now and again holding her hand out to the wall. This certainly was a new sensation.

It occurred to her that this was how her father felt much of the time his blue Sixth spoke to his mind. Fortunately, the girl could think and see when Jyo spoke.

But this was not speaking. This was an angry, urgent call. She had flown to the top of the weyr and back down, edging around where the frightened runners and cattle were penned.

"Don't you dare touch one of those runners," Aynatchavay growled, "you know I was raised in a runner hold, you drain one of those and you'll never land again."

You cannot tell me what to eat! Jyotirth snapped back, but stayed away from the runners pen and was shortly distracted by the torch held by a young man near the wherry pasture. I will have one of those. Or two. Perhaps three.

"Don't eat any of them!" Aynatchavay cried, "please, just... do it right," she tapered off. The gold's skin was alit with fire, when she landed near the boy with the torch the color could be seen almost as a mirror. In the dark, this flight might be worth watching from dragon back with torches...

Several males came spiraling down from their weyrs, some temporary visitors and some locals. Aynatchavay and Jyotirth had only just arrived, almost missing the hatching here, but having held off just long enough not to steal any of the newly Impressed's thunder. It was only now that Aynatchavay noticed how many big strong men were around - some weren't all that big but some looked quite handsome.

I do not want those things, where are the dragons! Where are my suitors!? Jyotirth bespoke, and picked up her blood-soaked muzzle to look around. She'd torn into one large wherry, and all but ignored everything around her in the moments it took her to suck the liquid from it. Dropping that one to the ground, she spun on another, and a third. Jyotirth wasn't the very largest queen anyone had seen, but she seemed to have attitude for more than one her size. When she did notice the males pacing around on their numerous ledges, seeing their glowing eyes on her, Jyotirth snorted. The blood spattered from her nostrils, and the poor attendant down by the wherry pen had to dodge it.

Someone heard him say, "I sure am glad there's hatchlings to feed or all this wherry meat'd go to waste!"

Jyotirth crouched, flared her wings angrily, and pretended to spring into the air. She gave a hearty, draconic guffaw at the few young bronzes and a pair of inexperienced browns who had come to watch - they were so on edge they wanted to get into the air! Well they'd be following their own shadows if they did!

Only the most strong, the fastest, the boldest for me! Jyotirth called to them, and took off directly at the pack of males. Most scattered, one ducked outright, but a couple stood their ground. Hmm, might be interesting, she thought more privately to her rider.

Aynatchavay was standing numbly overlooking the wherry pen, still, when Xalia got there with a few others. "Did you need anything?"

"Just keep the other females away," Aynatchavay said, distantly aware of the danger to the other dragons. She spotted three greens that fled between, and even a set of riders coming in from a patrol that had to scatter while the gold was climbing into the night sky.

The harper-rider stood watching, half in her own eyes and the rest a rush of surreal color and mood. The mind of any dragon was difficult for a human to understand, but the mind of a broody, rising female was something else entirely. Jyotirth was angry with herself for having allowed that silly bronze to take her anywhere - she'd enjoyed coming around through the cold of between, and she knew in a saner part of her mind that there would be a reason for her to fly here. But the other part growled that she didn't know the landscape, had never seen the lake, it was night... All these things Jyotirth chided herself and her partner for.

"Well you silly thing you could have risen at the Isle, but nooo, you had to let Synesth's rider tell you where to go," Aynatchavay chuckled, and then winced, with Jyotirth's angry trumpet. "Could I ... sit, perhaps? I've been riding and on my feet all day, and there will be time for someone to ... maybe massage my feet in a few minutes..." Someone dropped a sling chair behind her, laughing, and called for the masseurs to show up.

A few men did show up - those brown and young bronze riders weren't among them. Instead, five riders of varying ages and origins came to see this charcoal-haired feline girl who had thrown her arms into the air from her seat, emulating the wings of her dragon. "Go go go!" she yelled.

Though she hadn't meant it that way, the riders took that to mean to urge their dragons to take wing: why hadn't they already! She'd gotten half a mile on them easily! An explosion of pale metallic wings, tails and snorting toothy heads later, they were in the sky.

Two wing leaders, a wing second, and two others which didn't display rank on their riding gear had arrived behind Aynatchavay. Their dragons were easily a size match for Jyotirth, some ranging on the largest bronzes around. That suited Jyotirth just fine. She gave a good first turn around the weyr, circling back to check over the wherry pen and lazily took a look over her shoulder. The males knew that she hadn't yet quite started her real chasing - so they wisely remained back a bit. If any of them had come too close too early, she probably would have left them with a permanent scar or two.

Jyotirth wasn't normally like that, Aynatchavay commented blandly upon the unconscious thoughts running through her mind. But she was a tough dragon, willing to go into thread or dig in ice to rescue avalanche victims. Jyotirth would consider any of these males her equal normally.

None are my equal tonight! She bellowed, and then shot into the sky. There were few clouds, what there were had been scattered by evening winds to the sides of the mountains. The lake was a mirror, it reflected the torches and glowbaskets and looked like dozens of eyes were upon the flight. Though it was hard for the others around to see, Aynatchavay and the men whose dragons went up there could almost see too well. Jyotirth stalled, curved her neck toward her belly, and dove down straight toward the lake. She spun in a spiral around two males, who nearly crashed into each other and her trying to get out of the way. They caught up with her by diving themselves, and the other three joined in at a little more leisure.

For a while, Lauachith was in the lead, following Jyotirth wing-beat for wing-beat. But when she snapped at him and swept under his belly, smacking him in the face with her tail, he went back down to his rider. This is too much like work, the dragon complained. T'gel was inclined to agree, what with Aynatchavay still in her seat swaying and shouting occasionally.

Uskoth and Leitneth were neck and neck, one on each side of Jyotirth's wings. They stayed at a good pace apart, one would rise and try to corner the female while the other backed him up. The copper colored Omhonuth sped below, preventing Jyotirth from diving again. She trumpeted and pulled up short, causing the pair to speed ahead of her, and she nosed back into the sky to do a roll. She inverted herself, and by the time she was back with her feet toward the ground, her nose was pointed the opposite direction of the males!

Free from them at last, she bespoke.

Too soon, of course. For the other male, Kadezath, had come up around with just this kind of tactic in mind. Weyr and wing leaders, that's right, Jyotirth reminded herself and the rest of whoever was listening. Kadezath rose vertically while Jyotirth continued on her horizontal path, neither swerving. Not until the very last moment, when Jyortirth dropped abruptly just as Kadezath was about to twine his neck to hers. He was left hovering far above the weyr, looking at her quickly receeding form below. He decided after a move like that, there was little else he could do to impress the female, and dropped from the flight.

While Jyotirth skimmed the lake surface, the bronzes and copper collected their wits and started their own dives again. Jyotirth's glance wasn't as casual as it had been a few minutes before, this time it was more on edge. Her wings were showing signs of needing rest - that wouldn't do. She slapped the water with her tail, and took off into the air yet again. With the memory of having bested a wing leader bronze strongly in her mind, and Aynatchavay's laughter at his defeat (that was so unlike her to mock someone's loss, but she was so not in her right mind just then), Jyotirth cackled and trumpeted her anger at the other three.

Why haven't you done anything impressive yet? You're supposed to be such good fliers! And enduring! Why not join those browns that gave up earlier? Jyotirth chided, and then did another spiralling turn to get her bearings. This time, she sped up with each beat of her wide wings, and directed herself at the weyr's tall ledge-spotted walls. The drum heights, with their paired torches blazing, that would be a fun place to fly over. Those people who had gathered at their weyrs and ledges to watch did get quite the show - the queen stretched her wings to their fullest to catch air and swoop mere feet from the wall!

Omhonuth, who was quickly gaining on Jyotirth over the lake and woodlands below, suddenly realized that he was much too big to be going this quickly, that direction. He threw his tail down, dropped his wings to lose speed, and smacked directly into the weyr's wall - with all four feet bracing him. No silly crash landing for him, no, he'd actually saved that one up. The other two bronze dragons swept over him, he felt the breeze from their wings, and he went back to his rider below.

The large Uskoth glanced back down, are you all right, Omhonuth? he bespoke, concerned that the dragon was injured. By the time he got back to flying, he saw that it would be to his advantage to change direction and meet the others going counter-clockwise around the lake. Heading low, just over the lake surface, he shot up when he could, and joined in again with his own roll to alter his direction.

That was all right, but watch this! Jyotirth told him, and began a quick series of half-stalls, half-hovers, which let her dodge the pair of bronzes in midair, and get herself behind them yet again! This time though, she did not fly away. Instead, she flew up, a butterfly's gait into the star filled sky.

Back on the ground, the other riders had left as well, each finding some kind of solace with a local girl or a mug of beer, or just to watch the rest of the flight much to the dismay of their dragon. Aynatchavay had stood up again, and was spinning around somewhat like her dragon, and the two men left were a bit curious as to whether they ought to even try talking to her.

The younger C'ment was a bit weirded out by the whole thing. After all he was still in his late teens, and while he did think a girl on a gold was quite pretty - this one was furry, she had a tail...

I'm going to CATCH her, stop thinking about her rider! Insisted Uskoth, but the distraction had cost him height, and this time it would probably be silly to put in that extra bit of effort if his rider was going to be like that.

That left but one bronze, the smaller Leitneth. It didn't mean that Jyotirth was done with her antics. He'd followed her diligently, anticipating just enough that he was never left behind, but not quite making that final move. Jyotirth dove again, flipping so that she was almost falling with her back to the ground. Why do you not advance? She asked. You do not need permission, you have won.

I never thought I'd see such a lovely dragon, and your rider is a harper too... Mine is a harper.

When they joined in the sky, that brought Aynatchavay out of her trance to see the young man's face near hers. "You are a harper?" She asked, and to her pleasure he pulled a set of pipes out of his shirt.

"I've got all kinds of surprises," A'tram said, begining a tune on his pipes as the bugling of the dragons above came to their ears.