The Purple Glow of Dusk [Phlox]

[Dragon]

The sun was setting over the Weyrbowl in Amaata's new home. It was beautiful, and the bluerider was enjoying the fading light as Kuroth's relatively slight form was curled up nearby, dozing as he waited for it to be time for them to return to their Weyr.

The sky was an artist's dream, awash with color. The tan, curly-haired dragonrider gazed solemnly up at the sky, her hazel eyes focused on the changing hues of the sky as the sun sank closer and closer to the horizon. "Isn't it just so beautiful?" she asked, intending the words for Kuroth.

Very pretty, Kuroth observed sleepily. It is very nice here.

[FirebrandPhlox]

Raev had woken early this day, and decided to walk about the weyrbowl to enjoy the last hints of sunlight before Rask woke from her slumber. Though she was a fair bit grumpy from another day with not enough sleep, the evening was warm, and the sunset gorgeous, so her mood was tempered slightly.

As she came into a clearing, she heard a woman's voice pose a question. Raev turned her head and saw a blue dragon dozing with his rider, presumably the woman who had spoken, next to him.

"Yeah, it is beautiful," Raev responded as she approached the pair. "Enjoying the view after finishing duties for the day?" She might be in a better mood than usual, but she was still going to make sure whoever this was wasn't slacking off.

[Dragon]

Amaata started slightly at the sound of a human voice, twisting to face the source of that voice. She found herself facing a shorter blonde woman with some pretty serious scarring ... some of which looked to be from Thread. Still, there was something about her ... the way she stood made her seem confident, which drew the bluerider in a little bit.

Her eyes darted to the knot on the other woman's shoulder, reading it expertly. A garnethandler from Windsong Squad. It was no wonder they hadn't crossed paths before, and not just because Amaata was new here.

"Exactly right," she confirmed. Skatha was off chasing fy-bys, so the green wasn't there playing chaperone between Amaata and the newcomer. "Kuroth and I will be heading to bed soon, but we thought we'd take in the lovely night." She gave a little awkward smile to the blonde handler. "I'm Amaata."

[FirebrandPhlox]

"Raev," she responded, noting the rider's awkward smile. "My wher, Rask, is still sleeping, so I figured I'd enjoy a bit of daylight for once." Not that she needed to explain herself to the rider, but part of her felt like she had to justify just enjoying the weather instead of getting a head start on the day's tasks.

She continued to approach the pair, she had nothing better to do and it wasn't often she had the opportunity to talk to someone without Rask taking over the conversation. "Mind if I join you?" She asked in her straightforward tone. "If you'd prefer some time alone, I can keep walking instead."

[Dragon]

"It's nice to meet you, Raev," Amaata said cordially. It seemed like they had gotten sort of the same idea and the bluerider wouldn't mind having some company. "We'd love to have you enjoy the evening with us," Amaata said. One of Kuroth's wings shifted slightly, and he settled into the grass further.

The curly-haired woman wished that they could have met Rask, too; maybe the wher would join them before she and Kuroth had to head to bed.

Stretching, Amaata turned her eyes back to the sky. It really was a beautiful evening. "It's too bad that there's not much sun left in the day. But you probably don't get out in the daylight very often," she mused.

[FirebrandPhlox]

Raev gave a curt nod and made her way to take a seat near the rider. As she approached, she got a better look at Amaata, who was slender and tall in the exact way that Raev wasn't. She had a natural prettiness about her that Raev couldn't help but be a little jealous of.

Raev sat down on the ground near Amaata. She propped her walking stick on her shoulder and loosely crossed her arms over it, letting her hands dangle in front of her. "I'll take what I can get," she commented, her tone dismissive. "As the turns go on, I get more and more used to seeing less of the sun. I'm lucky if I get a rise or set in my day." She gave Amaata a smirk. "Though I guess you don't get to see the light from the moons and the stars reflecting off the mountain snow."

[Dragon]

Raev was not a pretty woman, not by traditional standards anyway, but the threadscored garnethandler was still attractive in her way. Actually, the scars from Thread made her weirdly more attractive. She obviously was a woman dedicated to her work. Amaata had so far escaped getting scored by Thread in any way that didn't heal, but she admired the people who carried marks of their work on their bodies.

"I don't generally get to see much of anything by moonlight," Amaata admitted. Raev made it sound gorgeous. "I might have to stay up late to see that next winter ..." She hadn't been at High Reaches in winter yet. She understood the winters here were harsh, but the idea of the moon and stars reflecting on the snow was attractive.

[FirebrandPhlox]

Raev let out a playful snort. "If you do, make sure you layer up in furs. Skinny thing like you would freeze in minutes out here on a winter's night." Raev looked away from the sky and over at the rider, giving her a once-over. "I'd hate for you to catch a cold and miss duties because you tried to see some pretty lights."

Raev knew there were plenty of people in the weyr who would take an excuse to get out of duties if they had the chance. That's how it had been back at Ista, and she was sure people of that sort were everywhere. Hopefully Amaata wasn't one of those slackers, she seemed nice enough, if not a bit aloof.

[Dragon]

"Oh, the last thing I want is to get sick," Amaata said honestly. Skinny thing? Well, Amaata supposed she was pretty thin, but still, it seemed like a harsh way of saying it. "I'm not sure I'm ever going to get to wear my summer things from Igen up here."

She wasn't quite to the point of getting rid of them yet. She'd see what summer in High Reaches was actually like before doing that. But spring was colder than spring in Igen, and she expected that summer would be, too.

"I've just transferred from Igen this spring, you see," Amaata said by way of explanation. "I'm still getting used to the weather here." Nowhere else was as cold as Between at least. There was that.

[FirebrandPhlox]

Raev gave a soft chuckle. "Yeah, I've got plenty of clothes from Ista that I doubt I'll ever be able to wear up here. Too cold for them." They were packed away in her weyr, on the off chance the summers up here did get warm enough to wear some of them. Raev would asses after a year and toss anything that wasn't fitting for the weather. She expected that most of the wardrobe she had brought with her would end up in the bin by this time next year.

"Ah, I've got you beat by two seasons. I came here last fall." Transferring to High Reaches right before the coldest part of the turn wasn't the smartest thing she had ever done, but she wouldn't have made it through another season around her "perfect" little sister. "Trust me, it gets cold up here. You'll want to invest in plenty of furs. But you've got some time before you'll need them, at least."

[Dragon]

"Thank you for the advice." Furs weren't something that Amaata had a huge number of, and she had needed the ones she did have when she had first arrived! It was warming up now as it was turning towards summer, but it was still going to take some getting used to.

It was kind of nice to know that Raev was relatively new here, too. Even though she had arrived in High Reaches in the fall, they had both been there less than a turn. They were both going into their first Reachean summer.

The awkward bluerider cast about for something else to say. There had to be more to talk about than the weather. She was coming up blank, though. Still, she didn't want her momentary companion to leave; she was tired of being lonely. "It's certainly different here than back in Igen," she said after a moment of fretting. "Not just because of the weather." The political climate was totally different, but Amaata didn't want to push talk of that if Raev didn't want to talk politics.

[FirebrandPhlox]

Raev gave the rider another nod in lieu of a verbal acknowledgement of the thanks. She had learned the hard way that winter in the mountains were frigid. If she could save someone else from suffering the same, she'd share the advice. In her own blunt way, of course.

"Tell me about it," Raev said with a sigh as she leaned back. "Those elections were something, huh? They'd never do something like that back at Ista." She had heard that High Reaches ran differently than any of the other weyrs before coming here, but she hadn't realized how different until some of the other handlers explained the elections to her, and she still felt like she didn't fully grasp the concept, despite throwing her name on the ballot.

[Dragon]

"They definitely were!" Amaata said with a little more pep. "I can't imagine actually going for one of the positions myself, but it's ... interesting ... that people who want to lead can just put themselves forward like that." It wasn't a bad system. Amaata liked the notion that she and Kuroth weren't deemed completely without political promise just because of his coloration.

She still didn't want to be Weyrleader or even hold the strange title of Flightleader.

Wait ... Raev? "Did you ... were you on the ballot?" Amaata asked. She hadn't known any of the options personally and had been utterly lost about voting, but she'd done it. And she remembered seeing the name Raev up for Wherleader. "That's really brave."

[FirebrandPhlox]

"Yeah, that was me," Raev said, a hint of red embarrassment flushing her cheeks under her thread scar. She wasn't embarrassed that she ran, she was embarrassed that she lost.

"I figured even though I was new, I still know my way around whers. Besides, you would not believe some of the shenanigans I've seen handlers get up to." Whers by the creches, paint all over the handler quarters walls, it was a surprise any work ever got done around here. "Someone needs to get these people back in line and focused on work again." She could always run again next election. Perhaps if she was better known as a hard worker around the weyr next turn, she'd have better chances of being able to actually make a difference around here.

[Dragon]

Was Raev blushing? It was a little hard to tell since her face seemed to be naturally a little red from the threadscoring, but Amaata thought that she was. That was an interesting development.

"How long have you and Rask been together?" Amaata asked. Not necessarily the same question as 'how old is Rask', since whers could survive their handler's death and re-bond. "Kuroth's five and a half turns." She could see the dragon watching them through barely-slit eyes, and feel him perking up to pay attention to what was going on despite the fact that he was sleepy.

She also had to wonder what Raev meant about getting the wherhandlers back in line. "How exactly are things out of line?"