A Day For An Adventure [Dragon]

[nineofswords]

It was still a little cold, what with it being the northern mountain ranges, but spring was here at last! The weather was warming, albeit slightly, and the snow was melting (mostly) so Dani was ready for adventure! And by 'adventure', she was planning on taking a walk along part of the road up to the Weyr, just to be sure it was traversable. Technically, that was a job for the squads, and perhaps a flyover for the wings, but it was fun and Dani liked doing it. She was just trying to turn her walk into something more useful.

She stretched out a little before heading out on her walk, Bladeth shifting his feet nervously nearby. Are you certain I shouldn't walk along behind you?

"Nah," Dani assured him. "You're so big, you might knock some tree branches onto the path, and that'll just make more work for everyone. And if your claws gouge holes or indents in the road, the traders definitely won't thank you. You'll know if I need your help at all, buddy, so it'll be fine for you to just fly overhead." Maybe if she was lucky, she'd get to see the first buds of spring on her walk today!

[Dragon]

While it was decidedly chilly still, Amaata was settling into her new home. Kuroth was winging along through the sky above her and twisting agilely through the crisp spring air; Amaata was taking a walk with no bother to pretend she was doing anything else. It was nice, to be alone with Skatha flitting along in the trees and Kuroth flying above her like a shadow of a cloud.

We're not alone. Kuroth's mindvoice was as crisp and clean as the air that he was cutting through. There was another dragon in the skies and another person in the woods.

Amaata stopped on the path, Skatha dropping from the canopy above to flare her dappled olive wings as she landed on the bluerider's shoulders. She was never sure what to do in moments like this, but maybe it was simple.

"Hello?"

She could feel Kuroth's mental chuckle like biting into a tart green apple. Don't mind mine, he told the other dragon, his voice as cool as the air around them. She is a little anxious.

[nineofswords]

"Huh?" Dani said eloquently, not getting a warning from her partner that there were people around. She went back around a bend until she saw someone else in the road. "Oh! Hey there! I'm Dani of Bladeth!" she said, coming up to the person she didn't recognize, a pleasant smile on her face. "I was just going for a walk since it's a mostly nice day out for once. I'm also gonna check out the road to the Weyr a bit since I'm out here. Kind of an impromptu scouting mission before the whers wake up. What brings you out here?"

Yours seems nice, Bladeth was quick to assure Kuroth. And Dani's used to anxious, she won't be offended. She's just very fearless. I hope yours won't find that too off-putting.

"Oooh, what's your flit's name?" Dani asked, instantly zeroing in on what was most important here. "I tried to get ours to come along, but it's still too cold for her, and I didn't have the heart to drag her out of her nest of blankets." Dani offered a hand to the green by way of introduction. "She's very cute."

[Dragon]

"Amaata. Of Kuroth." She left out the color the same way Dani had, wondering if that was the way things were done here. She knew that color didn't matter as much in High Reaches as it did in most places - after all, they had a democracy - but it still seemed weird to Amaata to have everything turned on its head like this. "I was just going for a walk," she answered. "I'm still getting used to the lay of the land."

She shouldn't, but Amaata is a little skittish, Kuroth observed sagely. She'll relax some as she gets to know your Dani.

Then Dani was zoomed in on Skatha, and Amaata blushed faintly. "Her name is Skatha." The bluerider shifted slightly as her green flit sniffed the offered hand and refrained from biting it, although she bared her little teeth slightly. "She's a little ... well, she's suspicious of everyone but Kuroth and myself." She shrugged apologetically, causing the firelizard to adjust and resettle. "She can fit all the places Kuroth got too big to squeeze into."

[nineofswords]

"It's nice to meet you, Amaata," Dani said pleasantly, glancing at her knots for the dragon's color. Dani had always found it redundant that people gave the color when the knots were right there to see. She'd also never liked how people's demeanor changed when she said Bladeth's color. It was one of things she liked most about High Reaches, that she wasn't expected to go for leadership position. She didn't need it, and it would stress Bladeth out too much.

"Do you want company while you walk?" Dani asked. "I run up ahead if you don't, but I certainly wouldn't mind someone to walk with!" She clearly didn't take her self-imposed task that seriously.

"Skatha's a cute name," Dani said, backing off when the green bared her teeth, getting the message. "That's okay, she doesn't need to be friendly to still be cute." Dani nodded in understanding when Amaata mentioned how Skatha was small enough to fit where Kuroth couldn't. "Yeah, firelizards are pretty useful that way," she agreed.

[Dragon]

"It's nice to meet you too, Dani," Amaata said with a small, shy smile. She caught the glance at her knots, and did the same: bronze! Oh. This would never happen back in Igen, or at least not for long. Even now Amaata was tempted to extricate herself from the situation, but she felt a certain kinship toward Dani and Dani wasn't making a big deal about Bladeth being bronze so maybe ...

Also, Dani was nice enough to give Amaata an out if she just didn't want company. That said something.

"I'd like some company," she said softly. It would be nice.

"Kuroth named her, mostly," Amaata admitted, not really wanting to get into the story but wanting to give credit where it was due. "And she's not nice. She's loyal, but she only actually likes Kuroth and I." The bluerider shrugged a little awkwardly. She was still cute, not that Amaata would ever say that to her flit's face. The green firelizard might just take offense.

As for dragons and their size ... "You remember when they were first hatched and they were as small as canines?" Amaata asked fondly. "Kuroth used to twine himself under and around and through everything and was constantly sticking his nose where it didn't belong." He still did, just less literally.

I heard that.

You were supposed to.

[nineofswords]

Dani's smile widened at the sight of Amaata's shy one, and when she said she'd like the company, Dani gave a little clap. "Awesome! This'll be so much more fun than going alone!"

She seems shy, Dani. Try not to be quite so...you know... He was trying to think of a nice way to say 'you about it', but couldn't find the words.

[i]Don't worry, Dani shot back to him. I'll tone it down, try not to scare her off.

"Aw, well Kuroth has great taste in names. And at least she does like you both! I know some flits are perpetually cranky, real handfuls even for their humans, so it's lucky that she at least likes the two of you." She still felt a little bad for that one baby from Ceecee's clutch that had bitten its human straight out of the egg.

"Of course I remember when my Bladeth was a hatchling!" Dani crowed, her eyes lighting up as she put her hands to her cheeks in delight. She'd clearly forgotten her earlier assurances to her partner. "He was so little, it was adorable!" She giggled at Amaata's description of Kuroth. "That sounds precious, honestly. My Blades was such a nervous little guy at that size. He's much less so now that he's fully grown - not much gets to be bigger than a dragon, after all - but he'd crawl into my bed with me at night and curl up against me and it was so! Gosh! Darn! Cute!" She let out a little squeal at the memory of it. "I still love him at any size, of course, but I do miss the days he was small enough to crawl into bed with me."

[Dragon]

Dani seemed nice, if more outgoing than Amaata by far. The tall bluerider stroked her flit soothingly, trying to get the little green to calm down some more. Talking about their dragons as hatchlings was a good subject - a highlight of both their lives.

"Aww ... honestly, I still sometimes curl up next to Kuroth at night." It wasn't exactly comfortable, sleeping on stone, but it was comforting. She always felt better when she was close to Kuroth. "It might seem silly, but I like being close to him."

It would have been more comfortable if Kuroth could have fit in bed with her, but his couch worked on nights she wanted to be beside him instead of in her sleeping alcove.

She blushed, realizing how much she'd just admitted to a veritable stranger, but honestly she wouldn't be surprised if she found out that she wasn't the only dragonrider to spend some nights in their dragon's couch with them. "They do get so very big, don't they?" Not that Kuroth was at all big as far as dragons went, but he was still quite a bit bigger than Amaata.

[nineofswords]

"Oh my gosh, you too?" Dani asked in response to Amaata admitting that she still curled up with her dragon some nights. "My brothers are always teasing me about that!" She wasn't embarrassed by it in the slightest. The fact that their dad viewed his relationship with his dragon in a more professional capacity meant that it made sense why they thought it was weird, but still. "I keep telling them that I think it's weird that they don't do that, but...well, I don't know if you have brothers, but you can't tell them anything. Once they find a thing to tease you about, they never let it go." She shook her head, but she was smiling. Clearly she didn't mind that dynamic.

Dani wasn't really sure why she was blushing, but maybe she did find it embarrassing to curl up at night with her dragon. Dani didn't know why anyone would think that was weird, they were all expected to live and die alongside these giant creatures born to fight thread, what was sleeping next to each other compared to that?

Dani let out a sigh when Amaata said dragons got big. Dani glanced up into the sky where Bladeth was flying. "Yuuup. It's great in some ways - I'll never bemoan the chance to fly - but part of me wishes they could stay little and cute forever. At the very least so I don't have to spend the better part of a day washing and oiling my big guy. I feel like he gets bigger every time I go to do it; he keeps telling me I missed a spot that I would swear to you wasn't there last time I washed him! It's like he's growing extra hips or something just to spite me, I swear." Some days, she really envied people with chromatics. A lot of days, actually. But she also wouldn't trade Bladeth for anything, not even the fastest, highest-flying, smallest blue on all of Pern.

[Dragon]

Amaata nodded, wondering what had inspired her to share such a personal detail about her relationship with Kuroth. Except - it wasn't like she'd gotten a negative reaction. Dani did it too. "Your brothers are being silly. They probably do it, too," Amaata said gravely. Teasing her for having a tight bond with her dragon was just ... silly.

The other woman blushed prettily, that was for sure.

Amaata looked up at the dragons wheeling in the sky over them; Bladeth was easily twice the size of Kuroth, or nearly so. Kuroth was small and agile and fast, and he had a knack for Searching candidates. He was, in Amaata's eyes, special. Still, she was pretty sure that every dragon was special in their rider's eyes. As it should be.

"Washing them can be a workout. I can only imagine how it is for you." Kuroth wasn't especially finicky, either - so long as he was clean and oiled, he was happy, and he trusted Amaata not to miss spots. Amaata thought they were a good match in that, and didn't think that she'd take well to constantly being told she'd missed spots.

The bluerider smiled at the comment about extra hips, though. It was amusing. "They start out little and cute and get big and fierce," she agreed. She knew there were reasons that the dragons had to be big, but she did miss Kuroth being small. She could only imagine that feeling was intensified for a bronzerider.

[nineofswords]

"Right?" Dani asked when Amaata confirmed that Dani's brothers were being silly. "They almost definitely do it too. Brothers are just buttheads." She'd called them worse. To their faces even. But she said it with fondness. She clearly cared about her brothers.

Dani followed Amaata's gaze up towards the dragons above them, smiling fondly as she watched Bladeth winging his way slowly through the air at his favorite pace, barely higher than the treeline. He was not a brave dragon, her Bladeth, especially when he was flying without her to be a second pair of eyes and a voice of reassurance. But it was exactly that same caution that had saved her more times than she could count. He forced her to slow down and think instead of just leaping into every situation. She loved him for that. And because they both loved similar things. They were a good match, even if it had taken her a while to realize it.

"Faranth, if that isn't the truth," she laughed when Amaata talked about washing dragons being a workout. "I could never do anything physical again in my life apart from washing my guy, and I think I'd still stay in shape." She gave an amused snort. "Well, Bladeth did get big, but I don't think 'fierce' is ever going to apply to him." He was too timid, too whiny, too fussy. She loved him dearly, but he would never be the noble, fierce, majestic bronze that was always sung about in harper's ballads. And honestly? She was fine with that. She wanted to help people, and Bladeth did to. That was the only thing that mattered, as far as she was concerned.

[Dragon]

The way that Dani talked about her brothers made Amaata wish that she was not an only child. Well, at least she was that she knew of; her father might have other children that she didn't know about ... but she somehow doubted it. She was pretty sure that she was a fluke.

"He looks fierce, at least," Amaata said, watching the slower bronze and her more zippy blue. Kuroth was fast and agile and Bladeth was larger and more lumberous, but that was to be expected of a big bronze. "Kuroth is excellent, though; he's everything I could want in a partner," Amaata said fondly. She was enamored of her dragon and they made excellent partners even if Kuroth always wanted her to remember things for her.

Sighing fondly, Amaata turned her eyes back down from the sky to the other woman. Dani was nice, she thought, and Kuroth didn't have any immediate objections about her either. "They do have a way of tugging at our hearts, don't they?"

[nineofswords]

Dani chuckled. "Don't let Bladeth hear you calling him fierce," she advised Amaata. "Or else he'll spend the rest of the day fretting at me about what he could've done to make you afraid of him. He might even try offering to do tasks or favors for you to prove how harmless he is, and that doesn't always go over well; either he's too big to help them out much, or else your dragon might get jealous. It's happened before." Blades meant well, of course, but he just...wasn't a traditional bronze.

She smiled broadly when Amaata complimented her dragon. "That's awesome! It's always awesome when a person and their dragon are a good match. Bladeth is perfect for me, but when we first bonded I didn't realize it. Still, I came around." She smiled up at him once more. "They do at that," she agreed, still looking up at the bronze, as Amaata mentioned how they could tug at the heartstrings.

[Dragon]

"Oh, that's darling," Amaata enthused. She didn't think Kuroth would get jealous of something like that, but she could see how another dragon might. Kuroth was too pragmatic to get jealous, she thought. And sneaky ... he'd find some way to make Bladeth's fretting work to their advantage.

"It was immediate for us. My parents really wanted me to Impress Gold and grow up to be Weyrwoman, but that wasn't for me. When Kuroth hatched and found me ..." She flashed back to the figure slinking across the hatching sands of Igen practically on his belly to Impress to her. "I didn't even know that I wasn't whole until I was."

She would have made a bad Weyrwoman, but she was an excellent part of a high-flying Wing and a great Searchrider. It helped that Kuroth was small enough not to be too intimidating to Holders. "I'm happy with how my life turned out."

[nineofswords]

"Isn't it?" Dani gushed when Amaata called Bladeth's behaviors darling. "He's a big sweetheart, a real softie. It's why we transferred to High Reaches, actually. He gets stressed out when people expect him to be in charge, but because he's a bronze, at most other Weyrs most people would at least give him some kind of deference, and he's got enough anxieties as it is. He's been much happier since we moved to High Reaches." She let out a little laugh. "Though I'll admit, I also wanted a change of place so people would stop comparing me to my older brother and dad. I love my family, but sometimes it's tough being from a family of riders."

"You know, I always thought I'd hate being a goldrider," Dani admitted. "I like taking too many risks, and goldriders have so many responsibilities they can't just leave the Weyr to go on a nice walk simply because they feel like it. Luckily, my family never tried to talk me into thinking it was for me. I think they understood how unhappy I'd be in that position, and that was more important to them than the power that comes with golds." She was very lucky in her family, and she knew that and was immensely grateful.

"Yes!" Dani said, nodding along. "That's exactly how it was for us too! Bladeth was the piece of me I was always missing but just didn't realize. Even at our most difficult moments, I knew I wouldn't give him up for anything." She gave a wistful sigh, thinking about her weyrlinghood. "Honestly, at first I was thrilled to get a big strong bronze, but when I realized how anxious my Blades is, how much he hates flying fast or high, I was pretty disappointed. It was kinda frustrating, having my own instincts and wants in the air constantly at odds with his. We always completed each other, but it took us a while to figure out how to work together, if that makes sense. But we got there. He trusts me not to ask more of him than I know he can handle and I trust him to get the job done at the pace that works for him."

Dani beamed. "Yeah! I know how you feel. I'm pretty pleased with my life too. Everyone should have a life they're happy with, even if it's not exactly what they imagined for themselves."