New Beginnings - Graduation & Turnover [E]

[summerrain]

Tera turned when Holt called to her. Like the rest of them, he too was older than her. "Hello Holt," she replied automatically. She smiled sadly when he invited her to spend time with his family.

Why not enjoy today, even if it is with someone else's family? Picosith asked Hers. I am sure your father would not have wanted you to be sad on such a special occasion.

Well, that's true, Tera admitted. I should at least try to enjoy myself, even if mom and dad can't be here. Especially if mom went with dad. She doesn't usually, but she said this time they were delivering a lot of weavings, so she had to go to make sure they were cared for propperly.

"Would you mind if I joined you?" Tera asked Holt. "I don't want to be in the way." Had she been a Turn younger, she would've jumped at the offer to meet the family of one of the Weyrlings(former or otherwise), but she had matured in the two Turns since Impressing to Picosith. A salty sea breeze blew her hair back, and she turned one last time toward the water to check for an approaching ship. She saw none, and as such had resigned herself to the fact that her parents had missed her Graduation, in the same way her father had been unable to witness her Impression. "Would it be alright if Picosith joined as well?"

[Shoki]

“Oh. Well that does sound fun.” D’ziel pondered the idea of going for a moment when K’tar got a sneaky look on his face. Oh dear. He raised an eyebrow as K’tar spoke and sighed. K’tar was always doing something like this, so he wasn’t surprised. At least this seemed relatively harmless, he supposed.

“You have an interesting idea of fun.” D’ziel deliberately paused then smiled just a touch. “Well, might as well. You probably have everything all planned out, don’t you? I’ll just show up and…what do you want me to do anyway?”

Some. Not as many as I would like. D’ziel took other electives too. He said he could study stars from reading about it if he wanted. The Moonlight was relatively happy with that from D’ziel though obviously he wouldn’t be as knowledgeable as any starcrafter. Were you wondering the names of some of the stars?

[Kaya]

"Yeah, of course. I wouldn't've asked if I minded," Holt replied promptly to her question with a smile. He waited while she checked the seas one more time. He saw his own homesickness reflected in her expression, but that was his mindset as of late and so he figured that there was something else bothering her. And his parents were here now and he'd have some time to go visit them in Dragon Ridge later, so things were looking up. He kept up his positive expression, it had never really left but he made another effort to look glad to invite her along.

"Of course. Ma and Pa and I were going to eat over there with Korith. Picosith will fit," he remarked, though while Woods weren't overly large dragons, compared to people they still looked quite big. Invite Picosith, would you?

On it. -- Picosith, Yours shall be joining us, and we should like your company as well. Korith stated in his rather matter of fact voice.

[summerrain]

"Thank you, then," Tera answered, nodding. "I will take you up on that offer." She followed him toward his parents and, of course, his dragon.

In that case, perhaps I shall, Picosith replies with a not-so-well-hidden laugh. She enjoyed the company of her Clutchsiblings, especially the more entertaining ones like Viarth and Korith. She made her way carefully toward the Blue, making sure to avoid harming any of the little creatures, including the small ones that were the same as Tera. There were a lot of small ones around, she'd noticed. Because of the Graduation, perhaps? Yes, that must be the reason. As Picosith made herself comfortable, she saw a glimmer off the water. It was some creature she'd never seen before! It was a surprisingly lovely shade of blue-grey, with a round spot of white on it's underside. It had fins on its sides, like a fish, but the tail was flat. And it had another fin on it's top. She had never seen soemthing like that before. She turned to Hers.

TeraMine, what was that just now? she asked.

"What was what?" Tera replied, looking toward the ocean. The creature Picosith had seen had already vanished below the waves again.

Well, it looked sort of like a fish, but not like one. Does that make sense?

"Sort of?" Tera answered with a laugh. "Just show me what it was." Picosith sent the picture to the girl, who gasped. "Lucky! You saw a dolphin! They're hard to find in any season!"

[Cait]

Rekkora was lovely, adorned in the finest gown she had; it was the gown she'd purchased with the marks given to her by her family for Impression. It was a soft grey in color with medium gold embroidery on the bodice that matched the woman's hair and echoed her dragons markings. The sleeves were comprised of two layers, one the grey that clung to her arm to the wrist and the second a thin, gossamer layer of gold that flowed freely well past her waist and almost down to the trailing, embroidered hem of the gown. In all it was a striking gown that drew attention and reminded anyone who saw her of exactly who she was; Rekkora, rider of Abyss Sunvoiath.

Of course she could've work a burlap sack and still caused a stir as the people of the hold had yet to see the woman that would be the next Abyss rider. At first Rekkora had preened under the attention though as hints of fear and speculation became more apparent, she grew annoyed and retreated to those that she knew. It took a while but she managed to find K'tar. He would call her pretty and wouldn't look at her like she might belch fire at any moment. Her hands smoothed her gown over her waist and lingered on the decorative dagger there. She wondered if Irai was around, the woman was the closest thing she had to family down south aside from Sunvoiath.

In the back of her mind, Rekkora felt a tickle of annoyance and reached out to calm the young dragon from which it came. Not able to fly with her rider yet, despite her large size, Sunvoiath had stubbornly refused to attend, instead preferring to sulk back at the weyr though her mind would certainly change soon enough. She was bored and irritable and she wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Not to mention her rider was getting uncomfortable. Finally spotting the young man she was looking for, Rekkora quickly checked her hair and moved towards the purple weyrling, smiling prettily at the man he was talking to as she moved to stand beside him. "Hello K'tar. Wonderful celebration, isn't it?"

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

Not any in particular, although small-fast-King-Flame-Ancalanath was talking about using them to know one’s location-heading-direction, and I wondered which would be most steady-unchanging, useful for this task.

K’tar grinned. “Of course I have a plan,” he asserted. “Mostly, your job would be…” K’tar’s voice trailed off at the approach of a tall young woman in a glamorous two layer grey gown, complete with gold embroidery that matched, exactly matched, the color of her long blond hair.

“Yes, it really is,” he said, his grin transmuting into a much shyer smile. He fought a brief war behind that smile, but courtesy won, barely. “Have you guys met before?” he asked, using his head to indicate D’ziel and Rekkora.

[Shoki]

Ah, I see. I am unsure myself, but I think this would be good for D’ziel to know. Perhaps after persuading him to look it up I should inform you as to what I learn? Hocteth was enjoying this particular line of conversation. It seemed very proper to him.

D’ziel watched K’tar’s focus shift from him to somewhere else and shifted to get a look at who it was. Plans would have to be put on hold apparently. The person who K’tar was focused on was dressed well, with long blond hair. She looked, well confident somehow. He was still largely thinking as he shifted so that she would be included in their little circle. She seemed, somewhat familiar? Maybe? Where would he have seen her? Seen. Not met.

“I don’t think we’ve met. I’m D’ziel, It’s nice to meet you.” He extended his hand to introduce himself properly, before a huff behind him told him he had missed a part of the ‘proper’ introduction. “And this is Hocteth.” D’ziel motioned, trying not to look exasperated. He thought the Moonlight had calmed down a bit. Apparently he was still a bit on edge from the importance of the day.

[Cait]

Glancing over at K'tar, Rekkora was rather amused that he'd lost his train of thought momentarily at her approach. Woman that she was, she enjoyed when she attracted attention like that. The Purple graduate was the one who had brought her to Rainbow Mists Weyr from the frozen north and if it hadn't been for him she might never have found her Sunvoiath. The thought prompted a hiss to echo through the girl's mind; the Abyss didn't like such thoughts.

As introductions were made, Rekkora smiled once more at the young man who introduced himself as D'ziel. Reaching out, she took his outstretched hand then blinked as the dragon behind him huffed. It was a Moonlight, much like her sister's Korinath but clearly a male. The blonde smiled at the dragon as well. "It is nice to meet you both. I'm Rekkora, of Sunvoiath."

A rather familiar amused rumble from above followed by a large shadow and a few shouted exclamations from the crowds alerted the young woman to the arrival of her dragon. The young Abyss had grown tired of sulking and lonely to boot. She didn't like to be away from Rekkora of very long. And, naturally, she had to make a flashy entrance. Rekkora spun around and then took a step back so that she was flanked by K'tar and D'ziel and watched as gold-marked black wings flapped furiously before her lifemate landed with a soft thud. For once she was oblivious to the chatter and looks of suspicion as she looked upon her beautiful Sunvoiath.

I thought you were staying at the Weyr?

I changed my mind. I think a lady fainted over there.[/b]

The Abyss turned her head to peer at the lady in question and sure enough, a man had caught her and another woman was fanning the lady's face. Rekkora turned her head and frowned at the sight. With a huff she stepped forward and held out a hand. Sunvoiath obligingly lowered her head as she settled her wings to her back and Rekkora stroked the young queen's nose. Stupid holders. Finally turning from her dragon Rekkora composed herself and smiled. "I had thought she was staying at the weyr but it seems she has changed her mind."

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

Viarth lowered his head to get a better look at the newly arrived Weyrling. He hadn’t seen a dragon like her before, excluding those times he’d seen her around the Weyr, but he’d never been so close as this.

Hello Abyss-Sunvoiath, that was a pretty cool entrance. I hadn’t seen a human faint before. Viarth opened his mouth in the closest approximation of a human grin that he could manage.

K’tar had enough time to register the incoming shadow, then step back slightly so that the Weyrling had room to land. At only about 4 months old, the young Abyss was already as large as Viarth had been at close to 7 months, roughly 18 feet from point to point. He wasn’t sure that he liked seeing an Abyss turn up, but he had to admit that the reactions of the nearby holders made it worthwhile. One lady even fainted.

K’tar grinned. If he had to spend the day without Chantrea, then at least hanging with Rekkora and Sunny wasn’t likely to bore him to tears. Maybe he could even get Sunny to fly over the main Hold, see all the ladies faint. In the meantime though…

“Do you want to check out the dancing?” K’tar asked. They were some way from where it would all be, and by the time they got there the Harpers would probably all be set up. Besides, he needed to be scouting around for Holt, and Mau was just as likely to be waiting for the dancing to start, and if he wasn’t sure if his main goal was to get Holt to dance with Mau or to claim at least one dance with Rekkora, well, such was life.

[Shoki]

D’ziel looked, content, per usual. Rekkora, huh? That sounded familiar. He looked up as a shadow went over them and he mouthed, ‘oh’. That’s how he had recognized her. He’d seen her impress. It seemed kinda silly he forgot about that. Ah well, he knew now. He spotted one lady that had been…appropriately startled. He turned back to the other riders here and pointly ignored Hocteth. He was about to complain how that was an improper reaction to a Queen. D’ziel wasn’t going to have any of it.

D’ziel? You should be listening to me. Hocteth snorted and stared at the fainted lady. Well it WAS an improper reaction. He decided to return attention to Viarth and Sunvoiath. D’ziel would have to listen to his complains later. Hello Sunvoiath, how have the days been treating you?

“It should be fun if you wanted to join us.” D’ziel was still wondering what K’tar had wanted him to do, but he figured the purplerider would not be quiet about it when it was time so he left off that for now. His attention fell to a woman behind the two people he was talking to, small, slight and old. She was heading over here though, and he found that somewhat odd.

Irai had spotted the Abyss come in and had surmised that Rekkora would be here as well. She had taken great care that her children or other relations had not seen her near here. It would not do to have them meddling. So she had quietly made her way over to see the pair. Sunvoiath was getting bigger, making her nostalgia. Was that the right word? Perhaps it was. A lovely sweet smile was on her face, she came closer to say hello.

“Hello Rekkora. And to you also Sunvoiath. How are you today?” Just as sweet as sugar and not at all a bother. That was Irai.

[summerrain]

Picosith looked over at Rekkora and her dragoness. That Abyss Weyrling makes me uneasy, she told Hers. Tera nodded.

I know what you mean, the girl responded silently. All the bad history of an Abyss, and the recorded personalities... They do not seem like a good match for many Candidates.

You've been doing your readings, Picosith responded with a soft laugh. She suddenly went silent, looking out over the water. TeraMine, I believe that is it, she told the girl, allowing the others to hear again. Tera turned, following the Wood dragoness's gaze. She squinted, spying a ship in the harbor. The symbol on the sail was familiar to her, and her face lit up.

"Excuse me," she said quickly, leaving Holt and his family before dashing to the cliff. She put a hand to her eyes, shielding them from the sun to get a clearer view. A large smile filled her young face, and she waved at someone on the ship. "I'm sorry, but I must go! My father's ship has just returned!" With that, she ran down to the docks, meeting the ship as it pulled in. Picosith, on the other hand, stayed put.

There is no place on the docks for a dragon of my size, she explained simply. Besides, the york's parents had already met her.

Tera flew past the others, including Rekkora and K'tar, aiming toward the docks. "Sorry!" she called behind her. When she reached the docks, her father stood there with open arms. "Daddy, you're here!" He embraced her tightly, and she threw her arms around him.

"So's your mother," he told her. She looked past him and smiled, seeing her mom coming off the ship.

"Mama!" Tera called, letting go of her father to wave.

"You can go on ahead and enjoy today," said one of the crewmen. "We'll take care of the rest." Tera's dad nodded his thanks, and the family left the docks for the main body of the Gathering.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

The ceremony had been enjoyable, though T’kar was glad that his part in the ceremony had been limited to action, and most of that standing on the edge of a temporary platform. It wasn’t that he disliked giving speeches, but he definitely didn’t mind not having to. He would rather have stayed with Rilora, but he’d had to catch up with a couple people immediately after the ceremony, which resulted in their being separated. He’d taken to mingling with the crowd, congratulating new riders and talking with guests and parents while he tried to get close enough to the Harpers to determine if his sister was present.

He reached the edge of yet another clump of people, who were courteously giving some space to a group of three dragon – rider pairs. Two of which were graduates, and one of which… T’kar repressed a sigh as he realized why the crowd was providing so much space, was Abyss Sunvoiath and her rider, Rekkora Castor.

I could have sworn that Sunvoiath wasn’t here earlier.

She wasn’t. She flew in while you were busy.

T’kar was just about to step forward to congratulate the two graduate pairs, K’tar and Viarth and D’ziel and Hocteth, when a girl went darting by, slipping between him and the new riders and darting past the crowd, clearly intent on the harbor. It took him a second to realize, helped by the girl’s voice, to realize that this too was one of the graduates, specifically, Tera of Wood Picosith. Mildly curious, he let his gaze track her to the harbor, where she pulled up at the latest ship.

Ah, family. Glancing around at the people nearby, T’kar was almost amused to see that one of the ladies had fainted, seemingly at the sight of an Abyss weyrling. The new riders looked like they were about to head off, so T’kar decided to leave them alone, and continue his dual hunt for both Rilora and Alyga.

[Terayne]

Adelia sensed a tensing of her dragoness and turned her head slightly, her eyes narrowing as they fell on Rekkora. She didn't like the girl, she would perfectly honest. She struck her as false, as someone who really didn't care about the world around her. A selfish, irritating creature if ever the DreamWeyrling had encountered one, and she knew Scendath was no fonder of the Abyss that went with the girl, seeing HER as selfish and vain.

She knew she wasn't being fair, she'd never TRULY met the girl, but she HAD been watching her from a distance, taking notes and constantly questioning her family who remembered the ORIGINAL Abyss and her rider. If she was honest, Sunvoiath was probably not as horrible as the first Abyss had been, but she couldn't be sure. After all, the young Queen was still that. YOUNG. Eyeing her thoughtfully, she padded over to her own dragon, laying nearby, and ran her hand along the golden swirled navy blue hide, her mind shifting to Scendath, judging how she was growing, whether she needed oiling, etc. The Dream was still watching her sister closely, her tail tapping lightly, thoughtfully, and Adelia could sense her coming up with, then discarding, lines in her head. Another story, my love? she teased her gently, and the dragoness whuffed softly.

Of course, Adelia-Mine. The response was short, simple, and very typical of Scendath, who immediately went back to her thoughts. Chuckling softly, her rider patted her gently, then looked around. There was an older woman with the two new riders and Rekkora now, and Adelia cocked her head, not recalling seeing her around before. Shrugging, she padded forwards anyways. K'tar, after all, had been one of the first to greet her when she'd first arrived here, and it would be HORRIFICALLY poor manners if she didn't congratulate him and Holt now.

[Kaya]

Holt smiled that she had taken him up on his offer. Today was a day for celebrating, and with any luck she'd see her family soon, perhaps even on a better day when it was less crowded, noisy and busy. More relaxing, a stroll through the Hold, catching up on old friends. His own hopes for a good day he projected on to Tera. He didn't say much though, just trailed after her as they walked towards his parents. "Looks good," he commented on the food they were laying out. And joy of all joys they had a little jar, filled with a thick dark spread that could be nothing other than mountain berry jam: his favorite.

He grabbed a slice of bread and started to smear jam on it when Tera, sounding a little surprised to his hears, said something. It became immediately apparent she was speaking with Picosith. On the topic of shipfish, no less. He'd never seen one, but he hadn't a great desire to either. That mystery solved, he decided that Tera should be offered the bread and jam he'd prepared first. Hospitality to guests and something like that.

"Missed the shipfish, huh? Have you seen them before, being from a sailing family? Oh, and mountain berry-" he meant to be a good host, honest, but she simply took off running. Why would-? Oh. The ship. Sailing family, of course it was her dad. And that was that, she was off. Well, she might be back. It would turn lunch into a light snack with many more people, but they'd manage. "Bread, Ma?" He asked, offering her the slice.

"No, son, we brought that jam for you! Enjoy it, keep whatever's left over. I don't worry that it'll spoil, you'll eat it too fast for that," she laughed, watching her son shrug and take a huge bite. He got jam all over his face, and when he was done with the bread his mom was right in step wiping it off with a cloth and some spit. He winced at her actions but inside he was smiling. He had missed her, and he loved that she cared, even if it was something as small as jam on his face.

Meanwhile, Korith was still stuck on the idea of shipfish. Holt liked the land more than the sea so they hadn't spent a considerable amount of time around it and now he was curious about these other creatures that deserved mention. Well, Holt might not be interested but I am. Picosith, what did those shipfish look like? Or, dolphins as Yours called them? Would you mind showing me? Korith asked.

[summerrain]

It would be my pleasure, Picosith told Korinth with a nod, sharing with him the image of the dolphin.

"Mom, dad, this is Holt, Korinth, and their family," Tera said, walking closer.

"Thank you for taking care of our little girl," Tera's mom said, making Tera blush in embarrassment.

"Mom, I'm not little any more!" she insisted. "I was little when I Impressed Picosith, but I'm not a kid any more. I'm already almost fifteen Turns old now."

"It was such a surprise when I heard that my twelve Turn-old daughter had Impressed to a dragon," Tera's dad began. "No one wants anything to happen to their children, but sometimes things cannot be changed." Tera sighed.

"Mom. Dad. Please? I've been taking care of myself for almost a full Turn now. Besides, the other Weyrlings were all older than me anyways. Why should it matter any more? We took care of each other, did chores and studied together. It's natural to be friends with my Weyrling class."

"Oh, we did bring something for you," Tera's mom spoke up suddenly. She reached into the leather bag she carried and drew out a wooden pendant in the shape of a dolphin. "We got this at one of the port cotholds we stopped in on the way back."

"Mom... Thanks so much," Tera said with a smile. She held her hair back while her mother tied the soft leather strands. Rain, Tera's Blue flit, suddenly appeared above her head and landed on her shoulder.

"And of course we must say hello to Picosith and Korinth," Tera's dad said with a laugh. He put one hand on Picosith's hide. "You've grown so much since the last Gathering."

"Dad, a lot of the dragons at the Weyr are bigger than Picosith. Archith, the Queen dragoness, is as big as a house!" Tera told him. Her mother had been at the Weyr with her when Tera had Impressed Picosith, so Tera assumed her mother remembered.

"We did bring some food we know you like," Tera's dad said, holding out a bag.

"Shellfish!" Tera said with a smile. "Holt, would you and your parents like some? They're very good!"