Does he ever have any good ideas? (OPEN)

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

3076.08.07 | Early Morning

Already, despite the sky not being lighter than a dingy pre-dawn grey, there were people bustling about the dock. Fishermen’s hours began early. Despite the busy movement, the people bustling about, the whole scene felt subdued, somehow. There were lots of people moving around quickly, but there was, a certain boisterousness that was missing. Weaving through the crowd, K’tar found himself once again annoyed, or even angry. The loss of Lord Ser Ralt and his replacement by… that sharding thread-bait idiot, was clearly still having an effect. Of course, it could just be the fact that the management of the Hold was suffering. Not a lot, but… the marks generated were going somewhere, sure, but it certainly wasn’t where they ought to be going.

K’tarMine, why are you angry-mad?

K’tar started to answer, but was shouldered aside by a pair of armed men. They kept walking, clearly escorting the man between them. Escorting him, for he was clearly important to somebody in the Hold’s new management. Glancing after him, K’tar felt a small smile play across his lips.

Target selected.

[summerrain]

"Don't even think about it K'tar."

Tera had been waiting for her father's ship, though it wasn't due to come back into port for another sevenday or so. She saw the look glinting in his eyes, and knew that whatever he was planning was a bad idea.

"K'tar, what's got you so upset this time?" She was young, true, but Impressing to Picosith had helped her mature, mentally at least, so she had started understanding more than non-Riders of fourteen did. She looked at the older boy worriedly. "You need to stop getting into trouble. You don't want to get sent away do you?" She stopped in front of him. "There's too much trouble going on already. It's been way too quiet lately..." She turned to face the water. "There are so many Queens at the Weyr, it's not normal for so soon after a Pass... At least, not by what the records say." She turned back to look at him, hands clasped behind her back. "So, anyway... Do you want to talk about what made you so upset?"

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar froze, having taken no more than two steps after the guards. The voice was coming from in front and over to his right, and was one that he knew… rather better than he was currently wishing was the case. Sighing, he set the foot back down. It would seem he was doomed to suffer through a scolding delivered by a girl almost three full Turns his junior.

He looked down at the girl. She seemed to think it was her business, what was making him upset. Who’d told her he was upset, anyway? He wasn’t upset, just…

Upset? Viarth suggested teasingly.

Not you too! K’tar snapped, sending a glare over his shoulder in the general direction of Viarth. He turned back towards the shorter, younger, infinitely annoying younger rider. Why was she standing there, anyway? It wasn’t like he was going to tell her anything about letters and threats and a pregnant weyrmate.

“No,” he answered shortly. “Since there isn’t anything…” his voice tried to crack though.

He means yes, Viarth informed Picosith.

((Sorry, but he wasn't in a mood to confide immediately. If Tera pushes him a little harder, than he will tell her at least a few things))

[summerrain]

Well, that much was a bit obvious, Picosith replied to the Purple. But it was a soft, kind voice that she answered with.

Tera smiled slightly, turning toward the water with her hands clasped behind her back. "It's alright. If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to," she told him. "I just... Well, whatever you were thinking about doing, it might have affected the work of the Hold as a whole. And I can't stand to see my parents suffer any more than they already have." She paused a moment, a somber look on her face. She unclasped her hands, bringing them to rest covering her elbows.

She sighed quietly, then smiled slightly again, looking out at the water. "I can't do much. I'm small, young, and most people still see me as a kid even if I am a full-fledged Rider. People look at me and only ever see my age. Sometimes it doesn't bother me, but other times I hate it. Even when I'm wearing my knots people give me strange looks. It's like they don't believe someone so young could be a Rider. But things won't always be this way. Time moves on, things change, kids grow up. One day, I won't be known as that kid Rider. I'll be a normal Rider, just like everyone else... Like you." Her eyes had a glint of sadness within them as she spoke. "I know why Picosith picked me out of all the Candidates on the Sands... I needed someone who would take care of and look after me, someone who would expect me to change as I got older. And because of Picosith, that's happened." She smiled at him, then turned back to the water.

"I don't know what my father was thinking when mother told him that I had Impressed at only twelve..." she admitted. "I don't get to see him that much, he spends so much time out at sea... Oh, that's why I'm here. Mother said he's supposed to come back soon, and I was hoping to be able to meet him here..." For once, she looked like a kid again. A kid who longed to see someone dear to her.

Sometimes, I catch her wondering what her life would've been like if I hadn't picked her, Picosith admitted to Viarth. She didn't get to play like normal younglings do... And I think she missed that... It's her desire to be accepted into... Somewhere. Here she is out of place because she is a Rider. But at the Weyr, she is out of place because she is still a child... There was hesitation in Picosith's voice. Tera had stopped talking, staring wistfully out at the water. I know I made the right choice with her, but... I wonder if she was ready to be chosen...? The last was a private thought of Picosith's own. No one, not even Tera, knew of the Wood's newfound hesitation, how unsure she was with what she had done. Perhaps, in choosing someone so young, Picosith had unintentionally alienated the girl from nearly everyone...?

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

Had Tera pushed at K’tar, he might well have told her something, but he certainly would have lost his temper in the doing. Instead, Tera simply accepted the rebuttal, turning to gaze out at the water and saying he didn’t have to talk about it. She didn’t even snap the phrase at him, though he’d hardly been polite in telling her, in essence, to leave him alone. No, all she did was smile and turn out towards the sea, talking about how she felt the whole hold might be affected by K’tar’s action.

K’tar tried to tell himself that that wasn’t the case. Tried to tell himself that the only people affected would be him and the man he stole from. The problem was, he was from Stormy Plains. He knew better, knew that even with a good Lord and disciplined guards other people could get caught in the middle of things, particularly if the criminal should escape, because then the guards were forced to hunt through the populace. He shifted his weight slightly, pushing the words, and far less comfortable thoughts, from his mind.

Then Tera threw him again, stating that people tended to think her too young to be a full rider. Before he could respond, she was off again, talking about how Impressing Picosith had caused her to change. He wasn’t sure he believed that; he was willing to bet she’d always been on the serious side. Easier to focus on that, then to think about Tera’s comment on him being “a normal rider”. Taken with what she’d said about making a difference, it smacked of far too much responsibility.

She glanced over and gave him a smile, then returned her gaze to the water. “I don't know what my father was thinking when mother told him that I had Impressed at only twelve...” she admitted. “I don't get to see him that much, he spends so much time out at sea... Oh, that's why I'm here. Mother said he's supposed to come back soon, and I was hoping to be able to meet him here...” For once, she looked like a kid again. A kid who longed to see someone dear to her.

K’tar sighed quietly, a familiar knot tightening around his heart and chest. He would never, now, wait anywhere for a meeting with his father. Not that it would ever have been likely to happen. He knew that, but there was a difference, a huge one, between being able to hope for someday and knowing that someday could never come. Could never, because one of the people required was gone, gone to whatever lay beyond between.

“Did she have any idea of the time, beyond soon?” K’tar asked quietly. He stepped a little closer, shading his eyes to scan the horizon for a ship. If nothing else, he could keep Tera company while she waited, though having met, briefly, the runner-riding Seafarer who was Tera’s father, he doubted that the wait would end like most of his used to, back when he still had a father to wait for.

Could she not simply remove her knots and run around Cliffside? Viarth inquired. My rider does that often, and it’s lots of fun. Viarth wasn’t the best counselor. He didn’t understand why Tera would care one way or the other what random other people thought, even random other riders. If it wasn’t her Wingleader or something then it didn’t even have an effect on her life. At least, not in Viarth’s opinion.

[summerrain]

Tera shook her head at K'tar's question. "It's too hard to get specifics here," she admitted. She narrowed her eyes, spotting something.

It is not that simple Picosith replied. She does not feel that she fits in here any more. I have seen it, the way some of the other young ones treat her now... They do not let her join them when they play their games. She does not get included in the talks with the Wing, though the dragons do include me. It is a... Difficult time for her. Picosith looked over to where a small gathering of Holdborn children were playing together. One of them looked over and saw Tera, said something to the others, and they all moved away, eyeing the young Rider warily. Tera, however, didn't notice.

"I think that's his ship!" Tera said suddenly. "It'll be a few more Candlemarks before they dock though..." He didn't have to wait with her if he didn't want to. That was the unspoken sentence there. But he could wait with her if he so chose. In fact, she appreciated his company. But she wouldn't say anything, not yet. She did see him as a friend, though, and hoped silently that he saw her the same way.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar nodded. He’d rather thought it unlikely, there were always things that could interfere with a planned arrival time. Tera spotted the ship then, though when K’tar tried to identify what she had used to pick it out as different from the other ships coming in he couldn’t do it. Of course, it might have helped if he had known exactly which of the returning ships she’d spotted. He grinned, remembering the time he’d tried to get Holt to take notice of the extremely obvious — to K’tar at least — differences between runnerbeasts. The upshot of the thought was; it was entirely possible that there was some difference Tera was using to pick out her father’s ship.

K’tar didn’t make any move to leave. He wasn’t really sure why. He and Tera had never been close per say, though they had been in the same Weyrling class. They were probably on the friendly side of acquaintance, all told. At least, that was how K’tar looked at things. On the other hand, Tera was here, being friendly, and he needed something to do to distract him. That, and, well, just in case…

K’tar snorted at his own thoughts. That was completely preposterous. Nothing was going to happen at all.

Viarth thought. Viarth pondered. This was most interesting. Odd. His rider only got excluded from discussions when the subject of the discussion was his rider. Of course, his rider was not Picosith’s rider. Perhaps the overlap wouldn’t be complete enough, but… Have you tried just having her sit in on the meetings and offer opinions on those things she is knowledgeable of? Surely that would cause the humans to respect her opinions and therefore to want her around when the meet.