Sights The Weyr Has To Offer

Writers: Dana, Danielle, Eimi
Date Posted: 25th January 2006

Characters: Larken, M'tone, Anacia
Description: Larken and Anacia begin to explore the Weyr, and run into brownrider M'tone
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 9, day 11 of Turn 3

"I'm glad both our husbands agreed to let us spend some time on our own today," Larken told Anacia as they rounded a bend in the corridor. "I hate saying this...but I've felt sort of, I don't know... Sort of trapped in my own appartments!" Shards, that sounded horrible. And Larken had no idea what possessed her to say it to Anacia!

"Oh, yes! I've just been dying to explore the Weyr. I've heard so many stories. It's nice to see the real thing, isn't it?" Anacia smiled at Larken, green eyes bright with scarcely veiled excitement. "Where should we go first?"

"I don't know!" The fact that Anacia was just as excited made Larken grin. "Why don't you choose a corridor and we'll go down it."

"Alright!" She glanced at the three corridors that met with the one they had come from. "That way," Anacia said, pointing down the right-hand one.

"I wonder if this one leads outside," she wondered, following her. "Have you seen the queen's clutch yet, Anacia? It's so big..."

"No, I haven't. Did you ever dream of being a dragonrider when you were litte? I did."

Larken grinned. "Of course! I remember whenever I would see dragons flying overhead, I'd run across the grass and spread my arms wide, as if I could take to the skies with them!" She paused, her expression turning thoughtful. In a way it was sad when childhood dreams faded to be replaced by the hard truth of reality.

"Well, maybe we can at least get a closer look at them, instead of always looking up at the sky!"

"You haven't met a dragon yet?" she asked, a little surprised. Surely Endic had let her roam before Ojisan had spoken with him... Larken had met one. Encourth, a beautiful brown. A slight blush tinged her cheeks as she remembered his charming rider, and abashed, she kicked that thought away.

"Not yet. This is the first time I've been out without Endric. He insisted that I ought to have...how did he put it...ah, yes: 'Company in which he could place unfailing trust to protect me from the questionable character of certain folk.' He worries too much, I think." Anacia tossed her hair and smiled.

Despite herself, a slow smile of understanding curved her lips. "So does Ojisan." As they rounded another corner, the young women finally found themselves outside. Shells, but it was a gorgeous day! "We couldn't've picked a better day to be out here, Anacia! Good choice on picking the path!"

"The Weyr is certainly lovely. I can hardly believe we're here.
Oh!....Look!" She pointed to the sky, where dragons came and went, their riders with them, going about whatever business it was that weyrfolk attended to.

"They're so beautiful..." The look in Larken's eyes was wistful as she tilted her head back to gaze at the dragons flying against a backdrop of sunlit clouds. Then she turned and smiled at Anacia, happy that someone was feeling the same way she was. "Come on, let's get closer. Oh -
there's the Weyrlake!"

"Well! Come looking for me again?" A voiced called to the two ladies. A brownrider waved from the Weyrlake's edge. "Was it my beautiful dragon or my charming smile?"

"Oh, shells," Larken breathed to her friend, her eyes widening.

"Do you know him?" Anacia looked between Larken and the stranger, and unconsiously took a step closer to Larken.

"I met him down at the shore about a sevenday ago. And I met his dragon too!" she replied, her voice a hushed whisper. Shells! What should they do? Obviously they couldn't _ignore_ him...

"Greetings, Dragonrider. We were out for a walk to tour the Weyr. Would you be so kind as to escort us and be our guide?" There, she said it, glad that her pale cheeks only blushed slightly as she did. "That is...unless you have any pressing duties to keep you from our company." Anacia smiled up at the rider, her arm linked through her friend's, for support. What was she getting them into?

"Why, _certainly_ m'lady," he replied with a deep and dramatic bow.
"Though perhaps I should retrieve my shirt first. My manly chest might destract you from all the _other_ sights the Weyr has to offer." The brownrider looked over at Larken and gave her a friendly wink to go with the grin. "I won't be a moment. Please wait right here."

Larken wished she had Anacia's ability to control her blushes. She cleared her throat, averting her eyes as the brownrider began to don his tunic. "Well this will be...interesting," she murmured.

"I think that's the point," Anacia murmured back.

As he pulled his tunic down he said, "Now, Larken, I don't believe I've met your friend yet."

He remembered her _name_. "Oh. This is Anacia, M'tone."

His grin told her he was pleased to know she had remembered his name as well. Talking Anacia's hand in his he lifted it to his lips and kissed the back of it gently. "_Very_ nice to meet you, Anacia. So," he said as he quickly slipped in between the two and took one on each arm, "where shall we start?"

Anacia did blush this time. "What do you usually show newcomers to the Weyr, M'tone?" she asked, looking up at his through her lashes. Endic would have a fit of apoplexy if he saw them!

"Well, I suppose it would depend on who they are, Anacia," he said with a secretive smile. **And if they were alone...** he thought with a glance at Larken. "How about the Hatching Grounds. We'd have to go inside, but I can show you a wonderful view of the queen and her eggs."

"Won't the queen get mad if we go in? I mean...well, I've heard gold dragons can get pretty territorial over their eggs..." Larken flushed a little when M'tone looked at her.

Her slight blush hadn't escaped his notice. "Ah, but there is a secret place, Larken, that is known only to Candidates and handsome brownriders where you can get a wonderful view of the sands and the queen won't notice."

"Oh! Let's go with him, Larken. I'd just love to see the eggs. And the queen! What an adventure that would be!"

Despite herself, Larken began to grin, her blue eyes flickering with excitement. "I'd love to see. I've heard her clutch is pretty big. How many eggs are there on the Sands?"

"Only thirty-six this time. The one at River Bluff, I hear, is well over fourty. But don't worry," he said with an all-knowing aire, "our Weyrwoman's Second, Jyramikah, her gold will be rising before the turn is out, at that clutch will be even _bigger_ than this one."

Over _forty_? How many eggs could a queen dragon lay at one time?
Shells... "When did you Impress your brown?" she asked, her blue eyes widening they began approaching the huge, arching entrance of the Hatching Grounds.

"Oh, I Impressed young. That was..." he scrunched up his forehead in thought. "About thirteen turns ago, when I was fourteen."

"I suppose it would be easier to Impress when you're young." Anacia said with a touch of regret in her voice. What child hadn't wanted to Impress a dragon and join the elite fighting wings of the Weyrs?

"Well, just because you don't Impress, Anacia, doesn't mean you can't enjoy all life in the Weyr has to offer," M'tone said with an meaningful grin in her direction.

She lifted a delicate eyebrow. "Oh...and what _does_ Weyrlife have to offer?"

"Just about anything you could ever want," the brownrider replied, giving her a secretive wink.

This time she did blush. "Well, that's certainly good to know..."

Larken bit her lower lip and kept wisely silent during that exchange, knowing that she'd end up saying something terribly foolish if she opened her mouth to join in. Larken thought Anacia did rather well. If it had been _her_...shells... And she probably would have _enjoyed_ saying the foolish thing, which made it even worse...

Last updated on the January 25th 2006

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Sights The Weyr Has To Offer