One, Two, Three, Four {Cloudchasers}

Oh. Oh yay! She had heard the summons, oh yes she had! It was time! Perfect time, time to play and jump and train. But trains to do what? Oh. Maybe she got to gather flowers. Surely they needed flowers. Everyone, and she meant everyone needed flowers!
Oh Adamine! Adamine there has been summons from Kerath, our big purple one. He has said to meet them outside at the lake. Do you think we will swim today before the freezefrosts come? He says it will be fun! Something we will like. We must hurry! Up! Up![/i]

Perching on the edge of her bed, Adaline sighed heavily. It had to be now of all times? She sighed heavily and put the metal she had been bending away. She was trying to teach herself to make jewelry, to make metal flowers for Tercath. A warm look was given to the green that pranced eagerly in place.
Fine precious. Let's go. The green had mellowed her some. Something about the sweetness brought out her inter motherly feelings, though she couldn't help but antagonize the green at the same time. Running a finger through her short hair, she grabbed a longer shirt and switched it, making sure the sleeves covered up the scars on her arms as usual. Tercath looked around the room and crooned encouragingly, she wanted to go!
Oh, after, can we see the flowers again? I want to gather some for the room, I want to try drying them again! In attempts to preserve them, before Adaline thought of the metal flowers, they had tried drying them. There were still piles of crumbled petals around the room. Adaline had yet to tell Tercath about her project. She wanted to surprise the speckled green. Climbing on the green's back, they raced to the lake.

Hello Ambrith and Retiath! Tercath trilled happily at her larger brother and her sister. She was happy to see them. She was happy to see everyone.
Hello to you too Kerath! She looked around as her siblings gathered. She did notice one was missing. A brother, a black. She knew he was gone. Adaline shivered a bit as she slipped off the green's back. She did not like when Tercath remembered Sicriath. Sebolaren was... Well she worried for him. Some. Just a little bit. Trying to ignore the though, she looked at her fellow weyrlings and nodded a greeting. W'al started talking, and she focused on listening.

The moment she heard the word 'Fly' Tercath trilled eagerly and stomped on the ground. She wanted to fly Now! But she needed a partner. She needed a partner first. Oh. Hmm. Tercath looked at her siblings and tilted her head. She didn't know many. Her attention turned to Adaline. Adaline was no better, she surveyed everyone with her hands on her hips. Perhaps she shouldn't have hermited way in their weyr as much. It made activities like this rather awkward. Fine. She knew what she was going to do.
Tercath, I am sure Sicasth would like to work with us.
Oh! Oh yes! Sicasth! Sicasth! We should fly together! We will fly well! We can fly then find flowers! You are pink, like a pretty flower so you would like that, right? The green tilted her head questioningly. She was sure the other would say yes!

–

Lyr's morning was similar. Like Adaline, she had already been awake, this time feeding her tiny fair. There was something... curious about it all. She had been stunned to find Sequin had an egg! Lyr was truly perplexed by that development. She hadn't even felt the pink fly. Neither had Zabelith, and the weyrling was far more in tune to the firelizard's feelings than she was. It was, over all, a very strange development. But still, there were mouths to feed. Picking up another piece of dried meat, she held it out to Sequin.
“Come on dear, I won't bother your egg.” Sequin didn't mind at all though. She had been quite eager to show off the small egg she guarded. Everyone was practically badgered into seeing it. Satin was annoyed by this, but Lyr was sure Satin was annoyed by much er smaller fairsister did.

My Lyr, someone calls for us. The large purple one, Kerath I believe. He says that we are to meet at the sands. Zabelith crooned happily, breaking Lyr's focus.
He says it will be quite the joyous and entertaining occasion. We should hurry, as not to be late. But feed the small ones, I am sure the mother needs her strength. Zabelith practically chuckled as she stretched languidly, stepping from her couch to get a closer look. Satin chirped and landed on the pink's head, nestling between her headknobs. She was quite disgruntled.

“Ok, I am sure Satin can feed herself, right my little love?” Lyr asked, getting an agreeable trill in return. She smiled and finished feeding the pink, curled happily around her egg. Dusting off her hands, Lyr set the bowl aside and went to straighten up. Zabelith waited patiently, the splotched pink looking around. Once she had tied the laces to her boots, Lyr placed a hand on the light pink's side and the pair started walking towards the lake, taking the 'scenic route' as it were.

Salutations Retiath! How are you this fine morning? Zabelith eagerly greeted her cyan sister.
And Ambrith you look good today. Your's must be taking good care of your hide, it is exquisite as usual. She tossed out compliments like folks tossed out candy at Halloween. Lyr gave a quieter, meeker 'Hello' to those near by.
Oh Tercath, have you found more flowers? If you haven't I know where some lovely ones grow! The pink kept up her chatting, but Lyr just stood at her side quietly.

She listened intently as W'al spoke, quieting Zabelith as well. She didn't want the pink bothering any more than she already had. Flight. The word made her stomach flutter and clench. She was both excited and terrified. Lyr rubbed her hands together nervously, trying to calm herself. Flight would be easy. Zabelith would know what to do, it was instinct. She hoped it was. Sucking in a breath, she released it slowly. Right. Flight. Pairing up. She could do that... Right? Still, Lyr made no move to claim a partner. She would sit back quietly and pick up whom ever was left, or go with who ever asked her first. She didn't really know any of the other weyrlings that well. She didn't really want to intrude on people pairing with their friends.

Kerath's call dragged Reylia to awareness before she was ready, and for a long, groggy moment she wondered what had woken her up at all. Then the words penetrated, and she sat bolt upright in the bed. Lesson time! So early? Common sense reasserted itself in the sensible girl's head. Of course so early. There was a late Fall today, and the weyrlingmaster would have other things to do.

Thread?

She sighed. The thought of Thread never failed to draw Recath's overprotective attention - not that she could blame him. It wouldn't be so long before they'd be flying it; perhaps a Turn. The black stretched, spreading his still somewhat disproportionately large wings, arching his back like a feline. No Thread right now, dearest. But we do have a lesson to get to! Quickly she scrambled to get dressed and clean her teeth, carefully directing Deanni to watch over her still-snoozing baby pillie in its bowl of water. Very firmly she pressed the green flit's mind - it was important that none of her pets got hurt while she was gone.

---

At the lakeside she listened with growing excitement. Flying! Finally, Recath would get to fly! Even the black stirred with it, stretching his wings again. He wanted to fly. Flying was new, and it would help him keep Reylia safe. Therefore, it was an incredibly good thing. Although his Reylia was... the dragonet swiveled his head to look up at her. You are excited, but you are sad. That was worrying.

Reylia leaned against her bonded's foreleg. Sebol should have been here. She closed her eyes tightly for a moment, then blinked rapidly to dismiss the moisture from her eyes. By the time Day'ar edged over to her, she had a smile ready for him and a nod for his unspoken question, slinging her arm around his shoulders. "He really wants to fly, too," she agreed to her brother's assessment of Recath's potential flight prowess. "I think you and I will do just fine together."

Day'ar relaxed once his sister arrived on the scene, and even started to get excited about flying, just a little bit. Thousands of dragons all over Pern did so every day without accident, so surely he and Ambrith would manage just fine. Especially since they were paired with Reylia and Recath, and not some more exuberant pair who might distract them; that was the benefit of being allowed to choose one's own team.

Suddenly the day was shattered by Waroth's bloodcurdling scream as she descended on the feeding pen; Day'ar instantly flinched back against Ambrith's steady leg, despite the red's significant distance from them. The vague, uneasy feeling of unwanted lust stole over him. After so long in a Weyr, he was now accustomed to the near-daily flights that took place, though he preferred to ignore them; however, the higher-ranked females gave out stronger vibes, and he hated it. Especially just a sevenday after Kalith's flight.

Yet it was worse than that. Kerath's eyes were whirling with desire, and Day'ar gave a miserable squeak. The lesson was clearly about to be cancelled, but that was not what worried him. Someday Ambrith would be an adult, and he might also choose to take flight in pursuit of entirely unlikeable females. And then what would become of his rider?

Foolish,[/i] Ambrith snapped, referring both to Kerath's flight and his rider's worries. Do you think that I would hurt you? Do you think that I would care for such a vicious little brute as that? If I give chase someday, it will be neither clouds nor violence.[/i]

He sounded so certain, but Day'ar just wanted to melt. It was obvious enough that W'al had had no desire for Kerath to risk his life chasing Waroth, yet the purple had gone regardless. Obviously the lesson would've been cancelled anyway - the skies belonged to Waroth - but still. Ambrith was just a baby. He had no way of understanding what lust was like, either for humans or for dragons; he didn't comprehend that his decision to fly would probably not be based either on his own regard for the female, or on his opinion of whether Day'ar could handle it, or even on whether it happened to be a good time.

Nudging Day'ar gently into the barracks as they'd been commanded, Ambrith said, a bit more gently, We chase nothing. We were misnamed, as I have been explaining to you this past age.[/i]

"You say that now," Day'ar muttered, with deep foreboding.