An Informal Introduction

Writers: AL, Rochelle
Date Posted: 16th August 2009

Characters: Meledei, Ariau
Description: Ariau decides to introduce herself to the newest goldrider in the south.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 4, day 21 of Turn 5

The sunlight seemed to sparkle off the water Dolphin Cove Weyr was named for as Alabieth circled in for a landing, bugling an answer to the watchdragon's welcome as she glided past the outer cliffs and into the bowl. Ariau found herself scanning the ground, looking for her grandmother's familiar white head of hair even though she knew her grandparents didn't know she was coming.

She grinned at her folly, slapping Alabieth's neck affectionately as she bugled another welcome -this time to an admiring bronze. Thankfully she'd timed her visit carefully, or the draconic flirting would probably have caused an uproar. There weren't any golds due to rise any time soon here, and Alabieth was still just a tad too young for her to be really concerned about it yet. Although...

Ariau blinked at the sight of an unfamiliar golden hide by the weyrlake. Was another weyrwoman visiting? No, wait. This gold was smaller than usual -the weyrling gold Dolphin Cove was so proud of. What was her name...? Elleth. And Meledei. The only gold pair on Pern younger than her and Alabieth. The one her grandmother talked about sometimes when Ariau ranted about the difficulties of being a goldrider. They hadn't met yet...

**Alabieth, can you set us down over by the lake? I'd like to talk to Elleth's rider...**

~ ~ ~

"Hey, watch it!" Meledei's words held little reprimand but instead rippled with laughter as her little gold doused her with water. Elleth made a sound that Meledei knew was her version of a laugh and then slipped into the water, the silvery lace that danced over the gold melding with the water. Well, she hadn't thought she'd escape the weyrlake without getting wet.

The young woman kicked off her shoes and started to pull up her shirt when a shadow followed by the glint of gold caught her eye. The Weyrwoman? Meledei turned to face the dragon fully and saw that not, it was not Traelyn but a dragon and a rider who were unfamiliar to her. The girl let her hands drop away from her shirt but she offered a smile to the pair as they drew near.

Ariau swallowed as she drew closer to the pair. She probably shouldn't be doing this, at least not this way. There should probably be some formal protocol-laden event going on for this introduction, but she didn't want that. It was so hard to really meet people when all you got was a few moments of small talk in a noisy hall. And, well, she was curious.

No point in being nervous this late in the game. She summoned a smile, tucking her riding helmet a little more firmly under her arm as she held out a hand. "Hi, Meledei right? I'm Ariau, from River Bluff."

"Yes, that's right." She knew her name. That really shouldn't be all that surprising, should it? Meledei accepted the hand warmly. "Well met..." There was a slight pause as Meledei briefly wondered if a title should be used, "Ariau. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." If Ariau didn't use the title, Meledei was going to take that as an indication that it was unnecessary to do so.

"Same here." Ariau smiled at the other girl. "I just wanted a chance to meet you without having to worry about a million other dignitaries and protocol, since we're the only goldriders on Pern who haven't risen yet."

"Well...in the South anyway." Meledei didn't know about any of the Northern Weyrs - did any of them had any young goldriders? "Were you born at the Weyr?"

Ariau shook her head. "No. I'm holdborn -my dad was a runner. But my grandmother mostly raised me and my brothers, and she's a harper master so we got to see a few weyrs up North before I was Searched. One of my brothers is a bluerider at Fort Weyr. Are you weyrborn?"

"Born and bred." It wasn't that uncommon, though Meledei didn't think it had given her any edge in impressing the gold. Ariau was proof of that. "I've never known anything else but a weyr, though I have visited holds." Opposite lives, yet they had both ended up in a similar position.

"What holds did you visit?" Ariau asked curiously. "I've been all over the North, but I'm afraid I didn't get a chance to go anywhere here in the South before Alabieth found me."

"I've been to all of the major holds. Pa would take me for gathers and sometimes when he was just visiting friends." The holds had been nice, but Meledei knew she'd never be able to live there. Visit, yes, but not stay forever. The Weyr was her home, even before Elleth had hatched. "Are you originally from the North, then?"

"Yeah. I was Searched at the Harper Hall at Fort Hold, and Stood at Fort Weyr for a few Turns after my brother impressed. Then my grandparents moved to the hall here -my grandmother got her mastery here before the Plague- and I decided to follow them but went to River Bluff on a feeling. It turned out I was right." Ariau shrugged, but gave her gold a fond smile as she gestured in Alabieth's direction to indicate exactly why she had been "right."

"Strange how that works, huh?" Meledei grinned. She had prepared herself for a life without a dragon, something she thought _all_ apprentices should do. She was glad, however, that she hadn't had to fall on her 'backup' plan. "And now what would we do without them?"

"I don't know." Ariau's eyes were a little distant, but her smile was warm. "But I'm kind of glad I didn't have to find out."

"Same here." There was always the possibility...no, Meledei wouldn't think of that. She shouldn't focus on the possibility, as it might never happened and doing so would never do her or her dragon any good. "So what brings you to Dolphin Cove?"

"Visiting my grandparents." She answered honestly. "I thought I'd surprise them. They're always dropping in on me, so I figured I'd return a visit."

"I bet they'll be happy to see you." As far as Meledei knew, her grandparents didn't even know she existed - at least, her mother's parents. Her father's had died when she was very young and she couldn't remember them at all. "Are they dragonriders?"

Ariau laughed. "If only. My grandmother's a Master Composer, traveled all over the Northern Continent with my brothers and I in tow on commissions. And my grandfather's a retired caravan guard. I got my wanderlust from them." She glanced fondly back at Alabieth, the gold flirting happily with a young bronze and brown. "They say that Ala' was definitely hatched with me in mind -she looks like the horizon, their first love."

"I guess I'm more of a homebody." Meledei admitted as she followed Ariau's gaze. "Not that I don't like to go places, but at the end of it all, I'm always glad to be back at home."

"Alabieth's like that too." Ariau admitted with a little laugh. "She loves seeing new places, but she prefers to sleep in her wallow at the end of the day. Probably a good thing, given her color."

"Well, there isn't really a place for a dragon anywhere except a Weyr." Meledei didn't think she could live in a Hold anyway. She was unusual for someone who was Weyrbred in some respects, but in others, she was far different from Holdbred.

"Well, there were always the couriers during the Interval, and a few lone dragonriders who did what they wanted. But they weren't golds." Ariau sighed.

"I guess that's true." Meledei had only heard about such things, never really witness it personally. "But now that Thread is falling, it's a different story."

"Yeah..." Ariau trailed off, then shook her head. "Sorry. I should let you get back to Elleth. I just thought it might be a nice idea to introduce myself without a million other people trying to catch our attention at the same time at a Hatching feast or something."

"Yes, that seems the better way to do it." Ariau was quite nice and Meledei was glad she had taken a moment to chat. "Feel free to look me up on your next visit - maybe we can have lunch together or something."

"Sounds like a plan." Ariau agreed with a grin. "Have a good day, Meledei, Elleth."

Last updated on the August 16th 2009

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

An Informal Introduction