Reunion and Secrets (Nia)

[kia]

The sun was too bright today, and she was grateful when they went between. Even if it was for a few seconds, the darkness was a sense of relief to the young woman that was used to the night life. They came back out into the sunlight and Durene looked below her as Dalibor Weyr laid out before her. Ever since she had left home and heard of a recent Wher Clutch at Dalibor Weyr, she had dreamed of this day. She hoped she was not too late for the Hatching. She looked back at the Rider, Lio, who was giving her a ride to the Weyr. The man seemed upset by something that he was trying to hide. She had just been grateful that he had even brought her here.

Lio and his Brown quickly landed in the Weyrbowl and dropped Durene off there. "You will have to forgive me, but I have things to do. So try not to get lost," he said, the dragon rising in the air once he finished speaking. Instead of watching where the Rider was heading off to, Durene turned around to get a good view of the place. It was bigger than she had imagined. This would be a perfect place to Impress a Wher, even though she was still not sure whether she wanted to go back to her Hold or not with her Wher. But Dalibor offered so many chances. It would be stupid not to take them. She ought to just stay here and live amongst the people and the other Handlers.

"Du- Durene?"

Durene blinked and turned around. At first, she was shocked to see who she saw. But her surprised look disappeared and a huge smile replaced it. "Okeris!" she shouted, running over to the young man and wrapping her arms around him tightly, glad to see her old friend.

O`ris looked at Durene with a surprise look. He did not even hug her back. "Durene, what are you doing here? And, please, do not call me that. My name is O`ris now," he spoke gently to her. He was not going to push her away from hugging him. She was, after all, an old friend of his. But he was not going to hug her back. He had never been that type before except when he thought of or was near Avalle.

Durene let go and looked O`ris up and down. Lira chirped a greeting to her, strangely remembering the girl back from the Hold. Rhyolith sniffed at Durene, her eyes whirling in shade of green at the moment. Durene grinned once more. "You are a Rider! We knew it would happen. The Hold is so proud of you for Impressing. But why did you not write anymore to us? Are you embarassed of us? Introduce me to your dragon!"

O`ris looked up at Rhyolith and then at Durene. "Durene, the Hold was my past. I am living for the future now. I did not want anything to hold me back. Sorry, but it was something I had to do. And this is my Cyan, Rhyolith. She is the first Cyan dragon on Pern even though two other Cyans Hatched in the same Clutch. She is also the biggest Cyan so far."

Rhylith leaned forward and rumbled lowly. It is nice to meet you, Durene, old friend of my Mine, she said, speaking gently.

Durene chuckled. "A female dragon, eh? O`ris, were you hiding something back at the Hold? Like maybe your preference type?"

O`ris blinked quickly and looked disgusted. "No! She chose me. It does not neccessarily say what my preference type is based on what I Impress to. Besides, I like... What about Holan and you? How are you two doing?"

Durene sighed and crossed her arms. "We had a fight. He thought the idea of me becoming a Handler was absurbed. So, we ended our relationship and I ran away, coming here because I heard there was a Wher Clutch Hatching soon. A Green`s Clutch, but a Clutch nonetheless."

O`ris frowned. "I hate to tell you this, but you are too late. It Hatched a while ago. Though there is a Queen Wher here that should be running soon. If you wait a bit longer, you might Impress one."

Durene nodded. "Wait a moment. I heard you say 'I like...' and then you changed the subject. So, who is the lucky person, O`ris?" she asked, leaning in and prodding him to tell her who it was. O`ris kept telling her to stay out of it, but she was not about to give up on her long-lost friend.

[Nia]

Avalle sat off in an insolated area of the Weyrbowl along with Callistath. The Gold was laying down and Avalle was leaning up against her large body, and a large orange fluffball was curled up in her lap. Yulari was perched on top of the girl's head, leaning over and watching the fluffball apprehensively. The very loving and protective Yellow was rather unsure about this... this thing that seemed to love batting at her tail, but she would grow to like it eventually. Once he learned his manners, of course. And Yulari could easily teach him to behave. She was quite good at that. Callistath had even promised to help!

Just don't hurt him, okay? He's little, she warned both the Yellow and her very large Gold dragon. But that wasn't much of a problem, because the cat was proving to be very agile and adept at both chasing Callistath's large, shiny tail and avoiding being hit by it. She'd named him Maris, and right now he was sleeping. He is rather annoying and has absolutely no manners. I fail to see how you are going to teach this thing to behave with elegance,

[/i] Callistath ranted, and Avalle had to laugh. Are you whining about him? You? Really? the Gold's annoyance with the cat was proving pretty amusing to Avalle, and the large dragon snorted at the thought that she was actually whining. Of course not. I think I saw a dragon drop someone off not far from here. Why don't we go say hello? It is our duty to know everyone in the Weyr, is it not?[/i] And like always, Callistath was quick to eloquently avoid the subject and shift Avalle's attention to something else.

But the brunette simply rolled her eyes and stood up, disturbing the kitten's sleep. Yeah, alright, she said with a smirk at the dragon before climbing on her. She strapped herself in and was careful to keep Maris still. He was absolutely terrified, but he was clinging close to Avalle. Luckily he didn't manage to scratch her up too bad, thanks to the riding gear. Yulari helped in keeping him calm with her soothing ways. She really was good at that.

They landed in time to see Lio take off in the other direction, and a Cyan land near them. "Hey, that's Rhyolith!" Avalle said cheerfully. She hadn't really had time to talk to O'ris lately, with all the other Weyrleaders coming and all the drama and preparations that had to be done. It gave Avalle very little free time. Callistath landed gently nearby, and Avalle slid off her, still holding tightly to Maris.

"Hey, O'ris!" she yelled, waving one arm as she approached. You are not making a very good first impression to that girl. Behave more elgantly. Do not yell like that.[/i] It seemed as though Callistath was still bitter about the whining comment and was picking at Avalle's faults more than usual. But while she adjusted her posture and fixed her waving so it was only light, her grin didn't fade. She wasn't one for a lot of physical contact, so even if she didn't have a kitten in her arms, she wouldn't have run up to hug O'ris or anything. Especially since there was another girl nearby!

"Um, hi." she said with an awkward smile. Maris watched O'ris carefully, clinging closer to Avalle. His gaze told O'ris that this girl was HIS and that he was not going to share! He didn't want to share her! "Look, O'ris! He's already grown a lot since the Weyrling Lesson. I named him Maris, isn't he adorable?" her voice was rather close to cooing, and she gave a light blush of embarassment. "He's pretty annoying, though," she added, as if trying to make up for her rather girly statement. She pet his head with one hand.

"Oh, who's this?" Avalle finally turned her attention to Durene, "A friend of yours?" she asked, smiling at O'ris. She wasn't really a jealous type, and it didn't bother her that O'ris had female friends. Maris was just as unsure about her as he was about O'ris, though, and gave her the same kitten-glare. It was very hard to take such a fluffy orange ball seriously, though.

Hello, Rhyolith.[/i] The Gold greeted the Cyan casually, giving her a nod. It would be rude to ignore her, and Callistath certainly was not rude. Yulari chirped happily at Lira, fluttering off of Avalle and into the air near her Green friend.[/blockquote][/size]