Knots and Sand 74.06.28 (Open)

[Shoki]

The Beaches Around RMW- Midday


Cyanee was sitting on the beach again, her fingers wrapped around a mass of knotted string. She should be practicing, but she was thinking about what he brother had said to her earlier. He had taken his sweet time getting around to fully explaining his words from before her first hatching, although she hadn't exactly remembered to ask him. So she was sitting on the beach, enjoying the sea air and thinking it all over.

He had said before that one had to be able to deal with hatchings and whatever happened. Well that was easy right? You either impressed or you didn't. Cr'wean had explained though that it wasn't quite that simple. For most people they had some kinda idea of what they wanted in a partner. It was true for Lifewing candidates too. He had explained though that Lifewings broke it to you slowly, and Dragons dumped it on you all at once. Cyanee had been even more confused after that. Then he had picked the Candidate Master as an example. She was a woman, but had a male Dragon. There were plenty of people that hoped for a Dragon the same gender as them. Then the color, it wasn't one that was always looked on kindly by people. Cyanee had sort of understood that, she guessed. Cr'wean explained that it might be a lot to take in. He had added that he hadn't exactly known what to think when he was Linked to Kiyosh, since he had always thought he'd get a male Lifewing. Then she turned out to be weird in more ways then one. Cyan was surprised at that. She loved Kiyosh. However, she had looked at her brother, and she felt better. He loved her too. Cr'wean had just said people didn't always understand that just Impressing or Linking didn't automatically make everything perfect. You had to get to know your partner.

So Cyan was sitting on the beach thinking about expectations. She honestly never had any. She had been asked once, what she might like to impress but she still had no answer. She wasn't even sure if she wanted a male or female dragon. Would that matter? She sighed a little and played with the string in her hands. She wasn't keen on practicing knots at the moment. However she did feel like singing. She looked around a little to make sure she didn't have people to disturb and began to sing. She was not a harper, but she had an okay voice. So she sang a working song, though she was not working on anything. It was what she knew, and what made her feel better.

[summerrain]

Tera made her way down to the beach, Picosith gliding on various drafts up above. So much time had gone past. It would only be a matter of time before she could ride on the Wood dragoness. She was so excited waiting for the day that would come! As she ran down the path, she had a little Blue flit on her shoulder. She laughed when he nuzzled her neck, then stopped. There was someone else already there. She smiled. It was the older Candidate that had been at the Aurora dragoness's Hatching. One of the bunch that hadn't Impressed, but there had only been seven eggs.

"Hey," Tera said, slowly approaching the girl. Picosith landed on a cliff above, ready to dive down and protect Hers if it was needed. She sat next to the girl, drawing in the sand with a finger. "You're still a Candidate, right? Do you want to Impress a Dragon or a Wher?" She looked up at Picosith, the Wood dragoness settled above them. "Your brother is a Lifewing Rider, right? What's a Lifewing like? I never saw a Lifewing before mama brought me here. Aunt Sanata hasn't even seen a Lifewing, and she lives here. I heard they're really big. Not as big as dragons, but bigger than normal Avians. Is that true?" She had so many questions about Lifewings, but all the other Lifewing riders had been really busy. She didn't really understand why, but she thought it had to do with Headwoman Lindalyn's disappearance. She hadn't been at the meeting, like she was supposed to. She was helping her aunt with a weaving, and the thread was so thin that it would've broken if it hadn't been finished.

[Shoki]

Cyan stopped singing when a young girl came up to her, apparently recognizing her from around. Well the candidate recognized her too. Apparently she had impressed the Wood dragoness from the stands, something no unheard of, but she was awful young. Cyan was suddenly attacked with questions, some of which leaving her perplexed but others just fine. She smiled a little bit, and just started answering them in order.

"I'm a candidate, sure enough. I don't really care what I impress. It's all fine with me, now that I'm old enough to apply for a Wher." She didn't add that she wanted to impress, though she had been thinking she did. It was about the only thing she wanted. For the next set of questions Cyan hoped that the other girl didn't have some sort of grudge against her brother for calling out K'tar the way he did, but answered anyway. "Yeah, Cr'wean has a Lifewing partner. They are pretty small, but they are bigger or as big as White dragons. Kiyosh is kinda big for a Lifewing but she's great." Cyan's face lit up as it usually did when she was talking to Kiyosh. "She has a white fuzzy head and brown feathers. Kiyosh like people a lot, but can look kinda scary if you don't know her." Her hands naturally went to wrap around the knots again, just giving her fingers something to do.

"What's it like impressing?" Oddly enough Cyan's voice had only curiosity, none of the excitement one would expect from a candidate asking someone who impressed a dragon. She heard it was a very powerful thing, but at the same time, wasn't sure what exactly it was like.

[summerrain]

Tera listened quietly to the older girl, giggling softly when she spoke of Kiyosh. "You really like your brother's Lifewing." A statement.

"Impressing?" Tera echoed. She looked at the sky, thinking for a moment. "Well, it was a huge surprise to me," she admitted after a moment. "I'm barely as old as the youngest Candidate, and I wasn't even here for the Hatching. Well, not at first. Mama and me came to help Aunt Sanata with one of her weavings. Mama's the older sister," she added quickly. "Mama watched a Hatching once before, so she knew what the humming meant. All three of us, me, mama, and Aunt Sanata, went to watch the Hatching. I wanted to get close, so I was standing at the bottom, as close as I could get to the Sands without being down there. I couldn't stop watching Picosith. She's just... So pretty." Her eyes went out of focus, as if she was looking past the clouds to something only she could see. "The others weren't ugly, or anything, all dragons are pretty. Picosith was prettier, though. The way the colors swirled around on her hide." Tera smiled, closing her eyes, thinking back. "Wen Picosith turned to the Stands, I knew something wasn't right. Usually a dragon picked from the Candidates which one was Theirs, but Picosith didn't." She opened her eyes, turning to glance up at the dragon in question. After a moment, she turned again to face the waves.

"Picosith's eyes met mine, and I knew something had changed. I felt... Complete. As if something had been missing, and Picosith filled the hole," she explained. "It was amazing. I mean, getting used to the other voice in my head took some time, but now I can't imagine life without her." She reached up to scratch Rain's eye ridge. "Then there's this little thing, but that's a whole different story. Impressing a flit is like Impressing a dragon, only not quite as extreme. You can feel everything they feel. I've even heard that some Dragon Riders are able to see what thier dragon sees." She sighed and wrapped her arms around her knees, pulling them to her chest. "The only problem is that Picosith is a Clutching dragon. Even I know what happens when a female dragon Rises in Flight. But Wood dragons only Rise once every four years, right? Or do you think Picosith'll Rise for the first time in a few months?" It was obvious that the question was bugging the child, but what could anyone else do about it? It was impossible to predict when a dragon would Rise.

[Shoki]

"Yep." Cyan smiled. It got fairly obvious that The candidate adored the Lifewing. Hopefully she didn't babble too much though.

As Cyan listened to the Weyrling talk about impressing she brought her knees up to lean her head on. The story was one she had heard bits of before, but now it was coming from the person themselves, and Cyan listened quietly. She knew at least that hatchings were very exciting, so she could sort of view the scene properly. When Tera started talking about Impression, Cyanee tried her best to view it from her perspective. She was having a hard time with it though. How was it like being complete? She felt all like a whole person now, she couldn't be more complete could she? Her face changed to show how deeply she was thinking about it. The closest she could get right now was viewing it as a friend that one had never met before but became best friends with afterward. It still couldn't be the same, but she had to view it that way for now. Who knew if she would impress at Archith's next hatching, but if she did, it meant a new best friend. That didn't sound so bad at all.

As for Tera's worries Cyan smiled, a sort of soft and reassuring smile. "I don't know what will happen. I'd like to think that Picosith will do what's best for you. Still, even with all of that, if you've got some people to rely on to help, I'm sure they will keep you protected. I wouldn't want to see you hurt and I have hardly met you. So I'm sure there are people who care deeply about not having you be hurt." Cyan was admittedly not entirely sure what could be done, but she doubted that anyone had looked at the situation and not tried to arrange things so that it would work out.