March 28, 2004
R'hyn and Arisvath run into T'an and Shiae in the feeding grounds.

Previous Next

You wing down to a landing on the grassy plain of the feeding grounds, scattering a few of the herdbeasts on the way.

** T'an shuts the gate behind him as Yranth glides over the fence and lands on the grass. The greenrider pauses for a moment with his hand on the gatepost, smiling. He's apparently in conversation with his dragon. Then he saunters along the fence for a bit and eventually stops, leaning his back against the railing, while the green turns to survey the field.

** Arisvath is covered in grit and dust and dirt, as if he's been performing hard physical labour in rather than on the ground, but though he faces the Waterfall Pool as he lands, his actual landing spot is in the middle of the feeding grounds, scattering the herds about him. R'hyn, busy unstrapping himself, and hoisting one leg over his lifemate's neckridges, remarks, "You could really do that a little better. Now you'll have an awful time getting a quick meal, you idiot." He slides down to the ground, quickly removing his lifemates straps, then slopes, easily, towards the fence, straps in hand. "Oh! Er, hey, T'an."

** T'an turns to grin at the bronzerider, without disturbing his relaxed posture leaning against the fence. "Hey, R'hyn. In a hurry? I've given up trying to get Yranth to eat quickly - she's too ladylike for that. Savours every morsel. Still, we were on early sweep today, so we've been home a while and she can take her time." And indeed, the green is strapless and gleaming with fresh oil.

Arisvath crouches low, allowing you to swing your leg over his neckridges, and climb nimbly towards the ground, with the help of his straps.

R'hyn is nearly as dirty as Arisvath is, and glances wryly down at himself by way of answer, adding, "I'd kind of like to take a bath - and get something to eat, myself. Arisvath prefers that I wait for him, however, so here I am." He hoists himself up onto the edge of the railing, balancing precariously as Arisvath soars towards a young buck, talons sharp. "Sometimes I wonder if early sweeps, wake-up time aside, aren't actually the best of the lot. Then, I remember the wake-up time, and I know better."

T'an laughs. "I know what you mean - especially when it's time to get up before sunrise. Though, to be fair, I usually go for a run in the mornings anyway, except when I've got that sweep, so it's not that much earlier than normal." The greenrider glances up at his green, who is now circling above the field, apparently selecting her prey. Looks like herdbeast is on the menu today. She swoops down on a large beast, falling on it from the rear and rolling it over as its legs give way under her weight. T'an nods in satisfaction. "But it was a good sunrise this morning."

R'hyn wrinkles his nose, looking pained. "You make all of us look bad," he complains, in his usual quiet voice. He's teasing - probably - but it's not really audible. "Gah. Jogging. I don't have the energy. If I don't have Dix over, or if I'm not at her place, then I've probably got my daughter, and either way, I just don't get enough sleep as it is. But if you enjoy it, I suppose, that's all right."

T'an gives a dismissive wave. "Well, it's just habit, really. They made us gorunning every morning as weyrlings, and when we graduated, I'd got used to it. And it's not as if I'm one for staying up late. Anyway, Yranth's up with the sun, and she won't let me sleep in." His tone seems to say that it's no big deal, and his attention's partly on Yranth, who has broken the neck of her herdbeast with a precise snap an is now dismembering it in a surprisingly dainty fashion.

Arisvath regards his food with a solemn, almost regal, motion, as though he were presiding over it in a reverent act of homage. This done, he lowers his head into it, blood trickling down his face, and towards the ground. R'hyn watches, calmly, then finally turns his attention back to T'an. "I hated that jogging," he remarks, finally, almost shyly. He plays with a scuffed patch on the knee of his trousers, reflectively. "Still. Good for you, I guess."

T'an shrugs. "I wasn't keen at first, but I guess weyrlinghood gets you fit. Mainly I just like being out when everything's quiet, and there aren't people around, and the beach spreads out ahead of you and the light on the sea makes the wavetops turn silver - " He breaks off, flushing deeply, and becomes studiously interested in what Yranth's doing.

"Oh. I do that at night. But... I, er sit, instead of running," explains R'hyn, flushing equally red, though with probably less reason. "It's pretty, beneath the moon." He quickly turns back to Arisvath, drumming his fingers upon his knee.

Shiae comes from the bowl on the other side of the fence.

Yranth has gutted her herdbeast, and T'an watches as she flips it over to get at the meat on the other side. Lyrical outburst over, there's an embarrassed pause while he hunts rapidly for another topic of conversation. "Anyway, how's Arisvath keeping? He looks great."

"Oh, he is!" R'hyn sounds quite puffed up for a moment, and hurriedly continues, face still slightly pink, "Which is to say, he's been doing really well. Had a minor injury a few sevendays ago, but it's all healed, now, which is a relief. What about Yranth? She looks good, too. Such a lovely colour she has."

R'hyn is sitting on the fence post, while T'an leans upon it. The two dragons are eating.

T'an appears rather startled by the comment on Yranth's colour, and glances quickly back at the dragon. Apparently he's reassured by what he sees, as he relaxes and nods appreciatively. "She is, rather - I've always been glad she's that that dark shade of green. And she's been keeping really well, no more of the muscle strain that she had a while ago."

Shiae ambles up to the occupied bit of fence, dragonless. Perhaps she's hungry herself. No no, bad thoughts. "Afternoon, riders," she offers politely, eyeing the crowd in the pens. "Busy today."

R'hyn shifts his hand, grasping a better hold upon the edge of the fence, nodding. "Oh, ouch. Muscle strain-- well, that's, er, you know, not good. Dark greens are pretty," he concludes, intelligently, swinging his legs. "Oh! Shiae! Erm. Hi there."

"Afternoon." T'an returns the greeting. "Yes, quite a crowd here. Funny how they never seem to get in each other's way." After a moment, he nods to R'hyn, "Yes, it was her leg, but she still had to be grounded for a few days. She landed on a rock, and it wasn't stable and gave way. Still, that was almost a Turn ago now, and she is being more careful about what she chooses to perch on. She does like to have a good view!"

"Not even when they're blooding," Shiae agrees, leaning her elbows on the top rail on R'hyn's other side. "Carianth was fussing about being hungry earlier, but is she here now? Of course not." She eyes the bronzerider. "That your opinion on color, or Arisvath's?"

R'hyn uses his free hand to rub at some of the ingrained dirt upon his trousers - he and Arisvath are both grubby in the extreme, though the latter has made it worse with blood splatters. "Arisvath, too. We have a ground weyr, so there's no ledge, but he likes using Viasseth's, when he can. I'd move back to my old weyr, on the outer rim, but it's just so convenient to be on the ground." He glances at Arisvath, then back at Shiae, "I'm not sure."

T'an turns, the more easily to talk to R'hyn and Shiae, and drapes an arm over the fence, fingers hooked round the rail. "You were up there, on the outer rim? Us too - we're up at the very top, so she can see right along the coast from her ledge. The view more than makes up for the inconvenience of being up top. Not that I get many visitors."

Shiae grins at R'hyn's non-answer, but her reply is to them both. "Yeah, I used to have a ledge out of the rim myself. Except too -many- people found it convenient. I'd rather have my privacy, even if it does mean I have to pester the weyrlings for rides occasionally, when Carianth's being exceptionally petulant. Not that she's done that for months now, but still."

"Turns ago," says R'hyn, nodding. "When we came back to Ista, before I was Weyrleader. The weyr got taken before E'van-- well, and Mother likes me being so close to her. I did love the views, though. We weren't quite at the top, but close. A long climb up those stairs. Where are you now, Shiae? Inside the rim, somewhere, presumably. I admit, I find the idea of a cottage somewhat... wrong. I like the stone."

T'an gives a dry laugh as he agrees with both riders. "Privacy's a good thing. And I like the stone, too. And I like /not/ being close to my mother; she'd be fussing over me, or checking up on me all the time, if I were easy to get to. Fortunately, she's not keen on the stairs."

Shiae twists around to point at a bit of wall, perhaps two-thirds of the way up the western wall, and directly across from the queen's weyrs and council room. "We're up there. Nice and high. Lots of sun, so Carianth can bake. I had a couple of different weyrs on the rim, but the first one Carianth could get at my things, and I'd find bits of furniture tossed out into the jungle."

R'hyn gives a wry smile. "Mother needs me nearby; I feel obliged to be there. She hated that first weyr - she has trouble mounting Indoth, and there was no way she could climb it." He follows Shiae's pointed fingers, nodding quietly. "That... sounds like Carianth. Er. I mean... well, it does."

The light grows wan as the winter day gives way to evening. The skies are clear and clean while the idle fingers of a faint breeze stirs the air. The winter air is cool, especially for the tropics. (60F, 16C)

T'an is wide-eyed at Shiae's tale. "She threw out your furniture? Shells, at least Yranth never did anything like that." With a laugh, he confesses, "She did flatten my cot once, but that was when she was still quite small and didn't know her own weight. Even then she'd go for the highest spot around." His tone is warm with affection for his green.

"That's Carianth," Shiae agrees, eyes twinkling. "And people wonder why I'm so keen on talking Candidates out of standing. If they knew what -I- know..." She shrugs, though, and turns back to watching the dragons eat. "There's only one of her, though, thank Faranth." She looks past R'hyn to T'an. "She tried to /what/? Stand on your /cot/?"

Head shaking, R'hyn remarks, "I'm so lucky. Arisvath doesn't-- he's just not like that."

T'an nods, saying wryly, "She did. Well, to be precise, she wanted to lie on it. After all, I did, so why shouldn't she? She's always had this thing about being high, and she was only a few weeks old at the time." With a chuckle, he quotes in Yranth-imitating tones, "T'an, I like to be high, and you like to be on the ground. Why do they give you a platform to sleep on and me a hollow?" With a chuckle, he reverts to his normal voice. "Except, of course, she was already several times my weight, and all the legs came off." A dry chuckle. "It was most embarrassing. I had to get one of the woodcrafters to fix the cot."

Shiae snerks and pushes off the fence, falling backwards but letting her hold on the rail keep her upright. "That's dragon logic for you. Arisvath never did -anything- like that, R'hyn? He's never made you wish you could crawl into a hole and pull a rock over it? I find that hard to believe."

R'hyn hesitates. "Well. Of course, but... he doesn't break things, or anything like that." The dragon in question lets off a low rumble, startling R'hyn off his perch - though he manages to land upon his feet. "Oh, FINALLY. Not that I don't-- that is to say-- I need a bath." He flushes, looking embarrassed. "Nice to talk to you both."

T'an nods to R'hyn, then turns to check on Yranth, who is still eating. She seems almost through the herdbeast, though, and raises her head as he turns his attention towards her. "Oh, she's going for another one. No, it's a wherry," he adds, as the green takes off again in pursuit of a small buck. T'an's face crinkles into a grin. "Just to fill the gaps. She's not embarrassing nowadays." There's a slight pause before he adds, "Except when she insists on me asking people all her questions."

Shiae pulls herself back to the fence with - is that a smirk? Oh, quite probably. "Don't let me run you off, R'hyn. I'll try to be good. Are you and Dix still together?"

"You're not," R'hyn hastens to assure Shiae, taking another few steps towards the waterfall pool beyond. "Yes, we are. Why wouldn't we be?"

T'an manages to conceal his curiosity about Shiae's question by watching Yranth as she glides silently behind her chosen wherry, then drops onto it, catching it unawares.

"Just curious," the Weyrsecond says glibly, batting her eyes at the bronzerider.

R'hyn huffs under his breath, and keeps walking. "Don't assume that just because your relationships are doomed to fail that mine are, too." Hit a nerve, there, apparently. He disappears, Arisvath lunging over the fence after him.

You slip passed the edge of the fence to the waterfall pool.

Previous Next