--reach ;;for;; .t.h.e. [stars]

[fidelli]

It was the morning after the war. The morning after a dreadful, horrifying incident that left dragons scarred, dead to be buried, and, in the midst of it all, new life to be celebrated. F'del had not slept that night, and Altith either - the pair had kept constant watch over the Weyrling barracks, Altith's hum and steady presence in their minds hopefully coaxing the sleepy dragonets to slumber. It was all F'del had done all night, letting W'al deal with his own weyrlings now. As day break had come, he allowed a subdued Nim to coax him to lay down for a few minutes, and she and Zucherroth stood watch over the slumbering minds - she couldn't sleep if she wanted to.

But this is not Nim's story - her's will come later, in different form. This is about F'del, as he slumbered fitfully between Altith's resting head on the Bowl, face buried in the grass as he stole the little rest he would without fellis to aid him. He would later go home and drown himself in the juice, or perhaps find J'kan and see if the younger man would be willing to cuddle - though, knowing J'kan, he would find F'del first. That is also another story - what the story begins now, is, Altith. The Purple was sleeping himself - he trusted Zucherroth, and as Rukbat touched the first of the horizon, the White touched Altith's mind. Altith, it is dawn.

The Purple woke easily - he had been catnapping anyway, and viewed His. The man was slumbering fitfully enough, and Altith was loath to wake him... But it had to be done. Mine... Mine, it is time to wake. The babies, they will be hungry, and it is the Weyrling's first lesson. F'del woke as the Purple echoed softly in his mind, starting. Nim was standing over him, hand reached to wake him - she looked just as surprised as he when his eyes flew open. "I'm up," he mumbled, and she nodded and let Zucherroth lead her away, not before stumbling upwards and giving her a hug. He was left leaning against Altith, rubbing his eyes and yawning. Call them. The Purple did so gladly - he enjoyed his part of the day. Little ones. His voice was soft, but stirring. It is indeed time to rise, and face the new day. Gather Your's outside, please. No biting, just rouse them quietly and fetch them here.

As F'del watched them all start to wander outside, he straightened up and offered them a smile - but nothing more. The first thing was this... After they had all made their way outside, he nodded. "Alright, Starseeker Weyrlings. Good morning, and congratulations again. You may sit down in the grass, we have a few things to cover.... First things first. I am Weyrlingmaster F'del, and this is Altith. For the next two turns, we are your Master's, your teachers, and I hope your friends. Colors matter - I won't deny that. But here, it doesn't matter that Altith is a Purple, and some of you will one day outrank me. We have Fajra and Kalith behind us, and all of you should understand that now." The soft spoken young man softened the harsh words with soft smiles, and but he was still very serious. "The next thing - I realize everyone is hungry, but you can wait just a few more minutes."

He took a deep breath, and then dove it. "You now have two minutes - I will answer all the questions about the War you had, and try to dispel the gossip. After that, I will not hear another word about it. Be polite, please."

[purnip]

{Posting L'am for now. Rhysia's going to be late.}

They were just about to leave their room when Lebeth got the message from a fellow dragon. The young Bronze paused at the doorway and L'am turned about to face him. "What's it this time?" He noted that bit of strain on Lebeth's features as if he was listening to something. Likely, he was asking that it be repeated because he didn't get the message the first time around. After a pause between the both of them, Lebeth gave a half nod to nothing and then looked upon his rider with a slight sparkle in his eyes.

We are being summoned outside, he relayed, his wonder reflected in a suddenly lofty voice. L'am found it odd how easily the Bronze was able to shrug off the atrocities of war, but he supposed their talk last night had something to do with it. Lebeth didn't seem like the type of dragon to stew on something; admirable enough, he supposed.

"Outside where? Surely not the Bowl." He didn't want to think about it too much himself, but the Weyrling couldn't believe that the tell-tale signs of fighting have been erased in the past few hours. They weren't about to be summoned to an arena stained in blood, were they?

No, surely not," Lebeth agreed. But beyond that, he only glanced away in attempts to contact the Purple that sent the message.

"Can't you get a fix on the position?" L'am asked, watching his dragon concentrate. The creature lowered his head and seemed to smile back at him.

I found him! Would you like me to lead the way? I promise I will not get us lost. He was starting to feel L'am's frustrations when it came to his oblivious nature, so he wanted to prove that he could make some decisions too. Besides, they needed to work together like this. It was all in good practice and Lebeth wanted some room to run with his new legs, swish his new tail, and stretch his new wings. He wanted to live it up today, despite the drama that ensued overnight. He, like his chosen, would not let the past ensnare him! He wanted to dart ahead and live up the life they had left, not dwell on the life lost.

The boy sighed, giving the Bronze a light stroke on his shoulder. "I trust you'll do fine," he admit, looking up to the regal little beast with a fatherly sort of pride.

So Lebeth took the lead and lumbered through the hall, pausing once in a while when corridors branched off before sticking to one. He did not stray or go in circles, but rather he found the outside fairly quick. To top it all off, he even nailed the location of the meeting. There, waiting patiently, stood F'del, their Weyrling Master. L'am gave him a polite bow of his head. Lebeth hadn't, only because he was too wrapped up in his pride for having successfully completed his task. Still oblivious as ever, yet he had a liveliness to him that gave it sense. L'am both disliked and loved it. It was peculiar, like a strange fruit. When eaten for the first time, the flavor is surprising and strange, but one soon finds it pleasant. An acquired taste, it was.

It was a beautiful morning, as if Pern shared Lebeth's state of mind. It didn't weep for those lost, or give any indication that there had been a war in the first place. Pern unleashed itself of all responsibility for its inhabitant's actions. For a planet or a thing with no conscious, it was a perfectly ironic thing to do. Had anyone with a consciousness done so however, wouldn't it have been irresponsible? Unfortunately it seemed so, in a public opinion. But a creature like Lebeth hardly cared for the public opinion at all, did he?

As more of the Starseeker's class showed up, F'del began. L'am noticed a few absences in the crowd, but he understood why. No one needed to explain.

When F'del told them it was fine to sit, L'am remained standing. He wasn't partial to sitting if they were all just going to get up again. He folded his arms and stood relaxed as their Weyrlingmaster went on and he listened intently. He wondered if the bit about colors and authority was geared towards him. He gave a smirk just in case, because in all honesty L'am didn't think himself above anyone. Yet. He believed in actual leadership, not the sort of power status that rank gives. Power can only get one so far, but the real power comes from respect. Only real leaders can get that sort of respect out of people. Being a leader...he never thought about it all that much. L'am merely wanted to be someone who got things done. He wanted to be absolutely vital to Dalibor. He could do all that and more as a Bronzerider now, but he was careful not to let it get to his head. F'del was in charge, and it would remain that way until the Purplerider himself declares otherwise. That was true leadership.

L'am wouldn't have been hungry, but Lebeth was, thus he was hungry as well. The Candidatemaster never discussed this. Many of the Bronze's feelings interceded with his own. When the young Bronze itched, he found himself unconsciously scratching at his hairline. When Lebeth was irked or sad, he could feel that as well. It was staggeringly different from his usual, cheery disposition.

Now F'del was willing to answer questions about the war. L'am figured out the common ones to himself considering that news for certain ordeals would have spread fast or been kept a total secret. Had anything terrible happened to Fajra, he was sure either the entire weyr would know by now or F'del himself would have been clueless. With dragons however, anyone became part of the grapevine.

So L'am thought of something common, but a concern nonetheless. Though he did not approve of the war or of how matters were handled, he did want to know of the outcome in bits and pieces, if he must. "What became of the Renegades?"

[Reky]

Oh, Mine! LinMine! LinMine!

She woke to the sight of a wiggling, lime green dragonet, staring down at her with faceted spinning eyes. The moment Lin opened her brown eyes, Memnorooth shoved her snout in her face, nuzzling her. Lin couldn't help but laugh, and hug the little dragon around the neck. At first, she had been confused. It was the first time morning with Mem in her life, and she wasn't at all used to it quite yet. It sank in the longer she was awake, though. She was a dragonrider. Who'd have guessed!

"Ah'm up, Mem, ah'm up," Lin said, and as Memnorooth got her front paws off the bed and sat on the floor, Lin sat up. Yawning, stretching, she tied her dreadlocks back, out of the way of her face.

Ohhh, LinMine, someone said something. A big dragon said something! I... What was it?

[/i] Mem paused, blinking. It didn't look at all like she was trying to remember -- more like she was forgetting even more. Something about outside, LinMine! She pranced around the room. She was a veritable pot of blinding green sunshine. Memnorooth had completely forgotten about the night's events, and that helped Lin from dwelling on it too much. She did, however, take a moment to sigh and rub her eyes. It hadn't been fun.

Fooooood!

"Hm? Ah. Yeah. Me too..." Her stomach growled to prove it. "Outside, yeah? S'what you said?" Getting up, she dragged on some better, comfortable clothes -- sleeveless top, pants, boots. "Let's go, then, hey?" Up and at 'em, Lin lead the little ball of energy out of the room. She didn't know why they were wanted outside; Mem hadn't been able to relay that much. Oh well, they'd find out, she figured.

And find out they did, as they filtered outside with other Weyrlings. They were some of the first there, and they saw Altith and F'del there. She couldn't say she was too knowledgeable, but she guessed they were the weyrlingmasters. Her suspicion was confirmed. With Memnorooth chittering away and rolling in the grass, Lin listened intently. She herself didn't have any questions. Sure, there were things she was wondering about, but it wasn't itching hard enough for her to blurt it out. That bronzerider boy did, though. He asked about the renegades.

"Ah, Faranth..." she muttered.

That's not my name, silly LinMine! Mem giggled.[/size][/blockquote]

[lesa]

Cadfael was already awake, or rather, C'fael was already awake. Partly it was habit - as an Apprentice Healer, he had to rise with the sun, part of the 'always be ready for patients' training, or at least that had been Master Mikael's stance on it. Partly it was Basker. The black firelizard was awake. And hungry. And not above bugging His to get food. So some laid away jerky, for just this purpose, was produced and dove on. At least Basker was happy.

C'fael wasn't. Alright, technically he was. Really, having Impressed the day before, how could he not be ecstatic? But his sleep, what little he had gotten, had been restless. Full of the screams of man and dragon he had just heard... and when not them, full of the screams of patients from the Hall. Ansyth had soothed him, as much a newborn could soothe a worried adult. Considering that Ansyth was his other half, he had more luck than the normal newborn at the task. He had been awake and staring at Ansyth since feeding Basker, who had promptly curled up around his neck, inspecting the new 'friend' from the safety of His' shoulder after C'fael had warned him away.

Ansyth woke slowly, blinking his multiple eyelids, curving his neck under C'fael's stroking hand. C'faelmine, we must go outside now. Our Master wants us to. C'fael nodded, expecting the summons. He had changed out of his Gather finery, a man having brought in his trunk of clothes earlier. The blond was back in his comfortable dark clothing, hip pouch slung on his waist out of habit. Then let's go, shall we? C'fael commented, assisting the sleep-wobbly brown up. "Rem, R'sey, wake up!" It was the one call out he would give for his friend - Desayunath would have to do the rest.

Letting the brown lean against him, the Healer - no, Weyrling now - made his way out to the gathering of his fellows. Once there, he stood, out of habit in parade rest, head cocked slightly to the side. So technically not full parade rest, or his head would be straight. But Papa hadn't trained that out of him, ever. A smirk flitted over his features at the thought. Basker fell asleep around his neck again, as one hand slipped out from behind his back to rub at Ansyth's eyeridge, the brown leaning against his left leg.

He nodded at the... bronze's question. It was likely the one everyone was thinking - though honestly, C'fael hadn't been going to ask it. He had more pressing matters. "Weyrlingmaster, how are the injured? Will I be allowed to assist in the Infirmary if needed?" Once a Healer, always a Healer. Ansyth chuckled softly at his self-deprecating thought.

[hatori3070]

Izkeeyerdath raised her head from where it had been laying curled around her sleeping form next to her rider in the infirmary. Mine. She called, not being particularly gentle about waking her. JasraMine, wake up. Altith calls. Jasra stirred from her cot and slowly sat up, three firelizards stretching and chirping in the early morning. I don't know if they want me to leave yet Iz. She replied mentally before she noticed the crutches at the foot of her bed, clearly meant for her use. Wonderful, now she could hobble off to her first weyrling lesson in crutches because she couldn't handle her dragon properly. You are being foolish again. If you require another lesson, I will give it to you. At the words from her dragon, Jasra carefully slid her legs off the side of the cot and slid down its length until she could reach the crutches. Altith, I and Mine will take some time in arriving, but we will be there. Izkeeyerdath kept her lingering annoyance hidden from the purple dragon. One day she would outrank him and never have to deal with him again if she did not wish to. Biding her time was the better choice at the moment.

[theknightwhosaysni]

T'lar was sleeping happily and fitfully when Feeroneth began attempts to wake him up. Akal and Meggo were sleeping fitfully at T'lar's side, not arguing over Theirs, for once.

Mine. Fee's voice was calm and soft, without a hint of sleep to it. Fee had been awake since the sun had risen, which hadn't been all that later. At least he'd woken up naturally, though, unlike His, who was about to wake up harshly, considering how he hadn't budged one bit.

Wake up, T'larMine. Altith and His call. Fee's voice was more forceful now, and the Purple padded quietly over to stand closer to His, who was now beginning to stir. Wake up! Fee ordered again, with a hint of pride to his voice.

T'lar groaned as his dragon's voice entered his mind. "All right, all right, I'm getting up." he muttered, pulling his sleeping furs up over his head.

No, you're not. Get all the way out of bed, or I'll make you.

"Please, you couldn't get me out of the bed on purpose if you tried." At least T'lar was waking up, though. He was slowly crawling his way to wakefulness, and even Akal and Meggo were waking up.

Sure I could. Feeroneth snorted, but he'd stopped paying attention to His, knowing that T'lar would get out of bed soon. Now he was focused on 'preening' as His called it, but since he was really only settling and resettling his wings, it wasn't really preening, it was merely a way to pass the time.

T'lar crawled out of bed, frowning at Fee, but he didn't say much. He turned towards the foot of his bed and retrieved his recently discarded clothes. They were still fairly clean, and hardly looked wrinkled, and, to add to their appeal, they were simple. Already, Fee's insistence that he wore the nicest clothes he had available.

Before long he was ready to go, and, after a quick glance at the bed, where Akal and Meggo still slept, T'lar walked quietly out of his room, following Fee's lead.

Soon enough, they reached the place where F'del and Altith waited patiently for the Starseekers to arrive. He wasn't early, but he wasn't late either. He was right on time, which was pretty dang amazing, considering just how tired he was. T'lar rubbed absently at his eyes with the back of his hand as he waited for F'del to begin speaking. He didn't have to wait long, though, because the other Purplerider was speaking.

As soon as he said they could sit down in the grass, though, T'lar dropped on the ground like all the muscles had disappeared from his body.

Fee frowned, You'll get grass-stains on those pants of yours... But that didn't stop him from settling down calmly beside His, resting his head primly on T'lar's lap as they both watched and listened.

T'lar couldn't say he really had any questions about the war. The dragons had come, they had fought, and now they were standing in the aftermath. There wasn't anything to ask about, though L'am's question seemed fairly reasonable.

-

Curled up in a little ball on the bed with Veejarth at her side, Amara slept deeply. She hadn't managed to sleep until late the night before, and when she finally had, it had been deep and fitful, entirely dreamless.

Veejarth stirred as soon as Altith's words reached him, his eyes blinking open as the Purple commanded them to wake Theirs.

Heya, AmaraMine, Altith and His want us up. Vee’s voice was perfectly happy and sweet, as if he hadn’t just spent all night worrying with His.

Amara yawned widely, burrowing a little deeper in the furs, ”Just a little longer.” she murmured, her hand inching out to rest on Vee’s warm hide.

AmaraMine, you must get up now. Vee wasn’t going to take no for an answer, as his tone proved.

Amara sighed, ”All right, all right, I’m up.” she rolled sideways, sliding out of the bed and wriggling into a change of clothes that looked clean enough. Amara didn’t really remember whether or not she’d grabbed them. Most of the night before was a misty blur – except for Impression. She remembered that with all of her heart, and she’d never forget it. Still, once she woke all the way up, she imagined more of it would become clear.

Amara yawned as she stumbled out of her room, following Veejarth’s steps. The black was prancing happily down the halls, making little trumpeting noises that sounded suspiciously like fanfare. Like at the hatching, the idea of fanfare didn’t seem like such a bad idea. After all, they were off on an adventure!

When they reached Altith and F’del, most of the Starseekers were already gathered, and the Weyrlingmaster was already talking. Amara didn’t pay much attention to it, because it mostly sounded like the kind of thing everyone said to a new group of kids.
Amara glanced up at his words about the war. Should we ask them anything? she questioned Veejarth silently.

Do you have any questions?

Not off the top of my head.

Then no.

Amara nodded her head in agreement, and shifted back to watching the other Weyrlings. They’d all recently Impressed, and they were all new to this life, some more so than others. She saw a few familiar faces, but Jasra wasn’t there? Why wasn’t her friend there?

[kyrillion]

R'miel had hardly slept a wink; tucked into an empty room in the weyrlings' barracks along with Oomieth, Paralee, and Tomarth, he'd shepherded them all into a little huddle once the fighting had started, and had done his best to keep everyone calm. As the battle raged outside, he'd given an abundance of hugs where needed, and had tried to be a good listener for Paralee, who'd seemed even more upset by the whole ordeal than he, and had spent the better part of the night talking. He wasn't entirely sure how much of it had been legitimate conversation and how much just random chatter; once the dragons had begun to keen - even his poor, sullen-looking Oomieth - he'd hardly been able to tear his attention away from the heart-wrenching chorus. He'd felt abjectly miserable and thoroughly useless, and more than once wished that he could find something to do. Anything to distract him from the reality, and from the sporadic list of names that Oomieth would relay to him in a quiet, almost timid voice. Fallen dragons and their riders, renegade and Dalibor alike.

When at last the fighting wound down and the keening ceased, his companions were lulled to sleep almost instantly by the abrupt, profound silence that stole over the Weyr. R'miel was soon out cold, himself - and had slept like a rock until, far too soon for his liking, Oomieth's gentle voice intruded on his dreams. Mine? Mine. You must wake up now. Please?[/color] Groaning, and unable to ignore the purple despite his fervent desire to roll over and go back to bed, R'miel gradually opened his eyes - and found himself staring into Oomieth's, in far closer proximity than he'd anticipated. Gasping in surprise, he sat up reflexively, and ended up knocking his forehead into the purple's jaw. Oomieth, with a surprised squawk, stumbled back to give his rider some space and sat down sedately near the door. R'miel, rubbing the sore spot on his head, staggered to his feet. He was still mostly asleep, and in a daze cast about for whatever it was that had caused Oomieth to wake him.

"What is it?" his speech was a touch slurred, too, and he shook his head furiously in an attempt to clear it. "What's the emergency?"
There is no reason to worry, Mine.[/color] Oomieth assured him quickly, his tone fervent and a touch concerned. He hadn't meant to worry His. Altith says it is time for our first lesson.[/color] He offered by way of explanation. His rider, however, merely looked skeptical. "A lesson? So soon after..." He trailed off with a yawn. "Are you sure?"

Oomieth actually took a moment to mull this over. Yes. I am supposed to take you outside to... face the new day, I think. And I am not supposed to bite you.[/color] He said the last bit quite solemnly, so much so that he elicited a quiet chuckle from R'miel. "All right, all right, you vicious beast. Let's get going, then." He turned to catch Paralee's eye, and to make sure she was awake, before offering her a tired smile. "You comin'? The sooner we get there, the sooner we can sleep..." And with that he headed out the door, Oomieth trailing after him, raising a hand to shield his eyes from the glaring sunlight. He was halfway down the hallway before he noticed that his purple was behaving rather strangely. He seemed even more quite than usual; almost sullen. "What's wrong with you, then?" He asked, masking the genuine concern he suddenly felt, and placing a hand fondly atop the purple's head. After a moment, the dragonet looked up to meet his gaze, eyes whirling with consternation I do not want to be vicious, Mineown. Have I been? I'm terribly sorry.[/color] This sparked an actual laugh, indulgent and genuinely surprised. "Is that all! You silly beast, I was just joking. You were the one who said you might bite me, you know." Oomieth brightened considerably, at that, and again paused to considered His' words. After a moment, he assured with great conviction that I would never bite you! I don't think. But Altith said... Oh, I don't know, MineR'miel. I am very tired. And very hungry.[/color] R'miel paused to scratch an eyeridge affectionately, basking in the novelty that was conversing with his dragon. In spite of the battle, just being near Oomieth was reawakening all of the elated feelings that lingered from Impression. He felt a bit guilty for feeling so gloriously happy when the mood in the weyr was still acutely morose (and for good reason); but nothing, it seemed, could dim his spirits just yet. And so, smiling, he said: "I'm sure F'del will have some food for you guys. You think you can tough it out for a bit longer?"

I think so.[/color] And just like that the purple's optimism was back, and his eyes glowed deep, mellow blue as he led his rider out of the barracks, moving to join the group of weyrlings already assembled. After finding an open place in the midst of his siblings, one nearby Feeroneth (who he very much wanted to check up on), he sat attentively and curled his tail about him, craning his neck to stare up at the much-bigger purple that was Altith. He was clearly rather in awe of him. R'miel, stumbling over some of the other gathered weyrlings and dragonets, collapsed by Oomieth's side and slung an arm around the hatchling's shoulders, eyes half-lidded and still obviously sleepy. He did his best to pay attention to what F'del was saying, but lost the thread of the introduction halfway through. He was essentially dozing when Oomieth, much more alert than his rider, posed a question.
Why does he say that colors do not matter, Mine? They seem important, to me. We all have different colors. I like that.[/color] Leaning his head heavily against the purple, content to have found a temporary pillow (albeit a not very comfortable one), R'miel quietly mumbled a response.
"He means rank, Oom. It doesn't matter that some of the dragons will outrank him someday."
Oh.[/color] Satisfied with the answer, they both fell quiet. Only when F'del asked for questions regarding the previous night's battle did Oomieth speak again.

Do you have any questions, RemyMine?[/color]
Smilling at the use of his nickname, he drawled a lackadaisical "nope."
Good. I would like to eat.[/color][/size]

[Birdy]

Staying up half the night due to the war had not done Paralee any good. The tiny room seemed their little shelter from the madness outside. As was typical of her when she was nervous (or any other situation for that matter) she had talked poor R’miel’s ear off the entire time. Mostly it was about random things, the feelings of Impressing and her favorite colors. Other topics she could recall were the colors of the dragon’s eyes and why girls were SO much better than boys. Then Tomarth and Oomieth had started keening and Paralee had spent her time trying to calm down the distressed blue while secretly glad that Tomarth wasn’t relaying names of the dying to her as Oomieth apparently was.

When the fight had ended the newly bonded had quickly fallen asleep and slept through the night, and would have probably slept through the night if they hadn’t been called for a lesson. Tomarth of course was up with Oomieth, though had a bit more trouble trying to wake His. [0047ab]Paraleemine. We must wake up we must! …Paraleemine…[/color] he had tried the first time.Altith says I’m not to bite you…wake up Paraleemine, he tried again but with no luck. Finally, he butted her in the stomach with just enough force to shake her awake. “Faranth why are you waking me up so early-“ Paralee squeaked, looking somewhat annoyed at first but when she saw Tomarth her face lit up, the previous night’s memories coming to her. “Tomtom!” she chirped happily, nearly knocking the blue over as she flung her arms around his neck in a big hug. “Goodness, how are yooouu doing this morning?” There is a lesson! We have to go go go… he said, relieved that His was finally awake.

Paralee struggled to get to her feet, sleeping on the ground sure was tiring! She stretched bit ”Just a second,” she replied to R’miel with a yawn. Tomarth stretched his wings and yawned. ”Look at those teeth, just don’t get to close to me when you’re yawning kay?” Paralee giggled, patting the blue on the head. Altith says I’m not to bite you Paraleemine, the blue said, following Oomieth outside with Paralee in tow. ”I think that’s probably a good rule, I like having all my fingers,” she wiggled her fingers in front of his face, having caught up with him and walking by his side.

As soon as they reached the grassy area Paralee plopped down next to R’miel. She sat cross legged, leaning in to hear what F’del was saying. Tomarth sat next to her, matching her level of attention while still managing to watch her out of the corner of his eye. She was rather happy, looking around and grinning until the war was brought up. Her smile faded, and instead of asking questions she distracted herself by playing with Tomarth’s two toned tail.
[/size]