Finder's Keepers [Candidate Search Party]

[shapeshifter]

R'niaan tightened his flight straps, looking over to J'lall as his Purple stretched out his wings. Majith bugeled out and R'niaan could hear J'lall, "Everyone's ready?" R'niaan stretched and took hold of his flight straps. He looked to the air for a flurry of Moonlight wings, "You seen Korvalia?" he called over to J'lall who shook his head no.

Korinath! We shall be leaving soon! Hurry hurry! The purple called out to the Moonlight. His tail swished hard, his butt low to the ground and readying for take off.

Yes, we should leave now. Ready? Bamath said before he readied himself to the air.

R'niaan gripped his straps and repeated to Bamath, Women are always late. I swear. He felt his dragon rumble with laughter and he patted the Crimson's neck. He looked to the skies for Korvalia and Korinath.

[Cait]

Waiting in front of the entrance to the kitchen, Korinath quite literally bounced in place, made even more anxious to leave with Majith calling for her. Letting out an impatient squeal, she hurried toward the entrance and lowered her head until she could see inside. Spotting her rider putting the finishing touches on a pair of baskets with leather flaps for lids, she pulled her head back only to insert as much of her nose as would fit through the doorway and snorted. [smear:#000000]Come oooooon! Majith and Bamath want to leave![/smear:#ffebad:0] By no means was she trying to wedge herself through the door as she'd done in the past, but she was quite impatient to be in the sky. With the memory that dragons possessed her excitement level was akin to this being her first Search.

Yes, well, have either of their riders thought to get snacks for in between holds? Or to grab spare jackets in case we Search candidates from the south which is currently experiencing summer? Particular and thorough, Korvalia didn't enjoy being rushed. Certainly there would be a great need for candidates as there was little doubt that Temperanth would lay a decently sized clutch, but going unprepared was not something the moonlight rider would allow to happen. Move, love. I'm finished here.

Korinath lifted her head and backed away from the kitchen, letting her bundled up rider out. It took only a few more minutes for the baskets to be secured and then Korvalia was in place and strapped in. With an excited bugle, the moonlight spun around and with a lumbering hop, launched herself into the sky, drawing a curse from her rider. Sometimes it was a bit of a mystery how a dragon so full of life had chosen a woman who was so self-contained. But none of that mattered now. It was time to Search!

[smear:#000000]Let's goooooo![/smear:#ffebad:0]

[shirokage]

Mestarian was making a run to the hold, delivering a few runner beasts to a client of his fathers while his father and mother were busy at the farm. He had two darker brown runner beasts and a white one he planned to up the price on for his father to pay him a little extra. He shuffled his hands together and licked his lips stating to himself... "Oh I can just taste all the sweet marks"... As he made his way to,the hold his little firelizard Natsu climbed out of a satchel that was on the side of the runner beast, Natsu climbed up the side of Mestarian and sat on his shoulder.... "And what are you doing here scamp?"... Mestarian stated as he seen Natsu, he came to the hold entrance and through heading towards his father's merchant friend..." Welp best get these sold and head back before it gets to late"... Mestarian spoke with the merchant for awhile before finally coming to an agreement on the price, with a little extra he made he decided to look around the stands and see if anything interested him.

[shapeshifter]

R'niaan grinned at the sight of the Moonlight dragon springing into the sky over the Bowl from the direction of the kitchens. He let out a "Woooo!" noise and Bamath roared out in excitement, alerting of their take off. A flashed of purple streaked into the air next to R'niaan as a bellow of excited laughter left his chest. Majith was airborne with a "wooping" J'lall. Bamath was airborne and tailing the other two with a great thrust of his wings, barreling full speed into the sky.

R'niaan called out to Bamath, To Stormy Plains! and with a feeling of pressure, then nothingness the two were between. R'niaan kept the image of the Hold in his mind clear as he can remember it and within a few seconds the two were out of the icey cold of between and circling over the top of the Hold.

Majith and J'lall emerged behind them from between, the quick little purple darting over the Crimson and barrel rolling around him. Bamath let out another roar, deep from his chest, in a display of power and announcing their arrival. Majith bugeled and spiraled down, putting a halt to his acrobats and calming down due to J'lall's pleading. We are here on business you know. J'lall said, trying to keep his composure and not laugh at his dragon's antics, though he thoroughly enjoyed the wild ride as always. The two dragons circled downward, Majith's a bit faster paced than Bamath, who lazily circled down towards the open court of the Hold for them to land.

[Cait]

Despite the fact that she couldn’t contain the roll of her eyes at the antics of the men, Korvalia couldn’t deny her dragon the joy of joining in on the antics. As the dipped between and reappeared above the hold, the moonlight joined the ruckus. Rising higher, she dove and dipped under him, even as Majith performed his own maneuvers. Letting out a curse that was swept away by the wind, Korvalia nearly laid herself flat on her dragon’s neck and held on tight when the pass nearly had her head grazing Bamath’s wing tip as Korinath swooped back up again.

Watch it, love! Can we please just land without someone dying.

The moonlight huffed and leveled out before tucking into a spiral descent. Majith would land first and Korinath right behind him. Once on the ground, Korvalia pulled off her gloves and immediately began checking her hair as the aerial displays had knocked her hood back. As predicted her hair was a bit of a mess, and never one to look a mess, the blonde quickly began to set about fixing her hair into a neater braid. “Hold still, Korinath.” She chided as the moonlight lurched forward, curious to see what she might find at the hold and also to make a bit more room for her crimson companion.

[shapeshifter]

The Crimson backwinged and landed next to Korinath, crooning loudly at the Moonlight. He flurried his wings out wide and folded them to his back neatly, lowering himself towards the ground. On the landing, R'niaan was already unhooking his straps and riding belt. He looked over to Kor and noticed her braiding her blonde locks, his eyes twinkling for a moment in admiration. He snapped his attention back to his duties and swung a leg over, slid down Bamath's forearm, landing gingerly on his feet and continuing to walk. R'niaan stopped looking over and up to Korvalia and bellowing out, "Beautiful.... I mean you, not the day." he anticipated a scolding from her but wouldn't heed it too much. He folded his arms, waiting for the rider to come down from her mount as he felt J'lall pop to his side.

Majith had landed in a bouncy fashion, flittering his wings about and moving from foot to foot, excited at the ruckus they were causing. He folded his wings up tightly to his body and slinked closer to Korinath, his little body lithe and cat-like as he moved. He kept his eyes on J'lall, watching his rider walk with light steps up to R'niaan, steps that almost mimicked the dragon's excitement. "Well, now to actually find a candidate or two." J'lall said, shielding his eyes as he looked up to the morning sun. He had already shrugged his riding jacket, holding it with one arm. "It's definitely warmer here." he added, looking to R'niaan. R'niaan nodded in agreement, "Much warmer... these Candidates will love Ice Stone." he laughed and J'lall understood the sarcasm, laughing with him. The two men turned their attention towards the Hold entrace, seeing some of the bustling people slow down and watch the trio with either amazement or wariness.

[Cait]

Korvalia had just finished tying off her hair once more when R’niaan spoke from below. Thankfully her cheeks were still a bit chapped from between; it hid her faint blush as she turned her head to peer down at the crimson rider. A look of frustration stole across her features. He was still at it, trying to convince her that he wasn’t absolutely insane. Sighing, she divested herself of as much of her heavier riding gear as she was able and after removing her straps, gave Korinath’s hide a pat. The moonlight rumbled and bowed low, allowing her rider to nimbly descend to the ground.

Once the woman had reached the ground, Korinath straightened and gave a little wiggle of her rump, feeding on Majith’s excitement. [smear:#000000]I bet we’ll find all sorts of good candidates here! Big ones and little ones and maybe some pretty ones. What do you think?[/smear:#ffebad:0] She swung her head back and forth between the two male dragons, eyes whirling quickly with joy and excitement.

Meanwhile Korvalia moved to stand near the two men, a silent, stern presence amidst the excitement. It wasn’t that she wasn’t eager to find good candidates for Temperanth’s clutch, but more that she took the duty very, very seriously. Given the amount of trouble certain candidates had caused in the past, she wasn’t going to mess this up. They didn’t need murderous, insane, belligerent brats. They needed dedicated, responsible, dutiful individuals who understood that being a dragonrider was not a fairytale. It was an immense responsibility and should be treated as such.

“I brought extra jackets; no doubt anyone born here wouldn’t know the first thing about true winter.” Finally speaking, Korvalia started moving toward the entrance to the hold, wondering, not for the first time, how her sister managed to tolerate such humidity and heat. A hand went self-consciously to her braid, hoping that it wouldn’t become a frizzy mess by the time they were finished with this. Dressed in gear a bit more formal than usual, Korvalia sported a pair of tight pants in black and a sleeveless tunic of her own design that went down almost to her knee and was split on either side to her hip. The tunic was synched in with a belt around her waist. Her gloves had been tucked into the belt and the long sleeved shirt she wore beneath the tunic was a soft cream-colored linen that looked as stark as her pale skin and hair against the darkness of the rest of her gear.

“You coming?” She tossed the question over her shoulder as she moved to greet the first person to approach. “Riders from Ice Stone on Search. Would you be so kind as to spread the word?” The young lad stared at her wide-eyed then scampered off. Word of mouth would do half the work for them. The rest was up to the dragons and keen rider eyes.

[shapeshifter]

R'niaan grinned after Korvalia, watching her walk away with an eagle eye. He quickly jogged to catch up to her, standing to her right and J'lall finding her left as she announced their arrival. R'niaan looked around the Hold with big eyes, nudging J'lall and pointing to a few young men lifting sacks and carrying them across for a woman who seemed to be giving off orders.

"They look like strapping young men. I mean, we need good healthy, sturdy, brawny riders... like me... to Impress some of those kings that will hatch." R'niaan said, wiggling his eyebrows at Korvalia. He leaned in to her where his mouth was near her ear and whispered "Then again, I think I'd hate to have some competition when Korinath rises." he chuckled and skipped back a step to avoid any oncoming swings she may try and he grabbed J'lall by his tunic sleeve, pointing to another group of men, "Looks like this Hold may have a few options. Especially with this being a BeastHold for sure."

J'lall nodded in agreement, "Should find some good men. Not sure about the women here. Not heard much about em. I guess they would make for good, brawny riders, eh?" he said, shrugging and turning his head to watch a few gawking girls who were pointing to himself and R'niaan before disappearing down a hall when they noticed the Purplerider watching them too.

[Cait]

As R’niaan spoke, Korvalia began to nod, right up until he mentioned himself. Her neutral expression took on a hint of annoyance as she turned her head to look at the crimson rider, narrowing her eyes as he waggled his brows at her. Ugh! Will he never stop? She cried, exasperated to her dragon who merely rumbled with amusement. The moonlight found R’niaan’s relentless chasing of her rider to be delightful and even romantic. Suitors were meant to be determined as far as she was concerned. [smear:#000000]He would make a good dragon, Korvalia. Why don’t you let him catch you? You enjoyed it last time.[/smear:#ffebad:0] The young woman huffed; between her dragon and R’niaan whispering in her ear, her cheeks were flushed and her brows furrowed in a scowl as her head snapped toward R’niaan only to find him dancing out of reach and pulling J’lall along with him.

“Yeah, you better run.” Korvalia muttered under her breath as she moved off in the direction of the girls that had been gawking at the men. When one of the women gave a shy little wave in the crimson rider’s direction, Korvalia pursed her lips and had to pause for a moment to collect herself. She wasn’t sure why, but she felt an uncharacteristic urge to slap the woman. It faded as the women scurried away, caught in their gawking by J’lall.

Shaking her head, Korvalia took a deep breath to steady herself, not willing to do too much thinking about her own thoughts and feelings at the moment. It was time for a Search. She would focus on that and figure out the rest later. A plan of her own in mind, the young woman started making her way toward the kitchen. The women there knew what hard work and dedication were. Besides, she found it easier to relate to cooks than other women in holds. Perhaps because she had once been one or was raised by one. Whatever the case, she figured it was as good a place as any to start.

[shirokage]

After finishing looking through the merchant's goods, he noticed Natsu acting strangely on his shoulder. Within a moment, dragons and their riders began descending from the sky. He watched as the majestic creatures descended before him into the courtyard of the Hold. In shock of the sudden arrival dragons and their riders he watched them dismount and begin their stride across the courtyard. He listened in as the woman stopped a boy, hearing they were there on Search. "Well Natsu here goes nothing. Excuse me!"... He shouted towards the riders jogging a little to catch up to them, Natsu sitting on his shoulder with his tail hanging off the other side of his Mestarians neck... "Is it true you've come in search for candidates?"... Not sure what to say but filled with questions he stood of to the right of the three riders not moving to close unsure how to properly act around them. He then took notice that one of the Riders looked oddly familiar, but couldn't quite put his finger on why.

[shapeshifter]

R'niaan turned when he heard a male voice come from the side of them. He immediately took two steps closer to Korvalia and looked at a young black haired male blurting out words to them both. It caught him a bit off guard but he let a smile brighten his face, "Well hello and yes, Search!" he said, a bit confused in the face but suddenly felt J'lall hit his arm in excitement.

"You! You're Johanna's son aren't you? You're kinfolk." he said, grinning at him. "Ain't seen you since before Majith came along. Long time. You've grown." he said, looking the boy up and down. "I'm sure Majith would like to meet you before the day is out." J'lall blurted. R'niaan noticed in that instant both men could definitely be related by the hurried speech. He grinned and looked to Korvalia, waiting for her to introduce them to the young man and answer his questions further.

[Cait]

Before she could get far, a young man approached and it didn't go unnoticed that R'niaan moved closer to her. Refusing to acknowledge the move, she watched the interaction and gave a polite smile as the kinship was revealed. When neither of the others moved to make introductions, Korvalia was there with her manners in hand and clasps her hands in front of her. Meeting the young man's eyes with her steady, pale gaze, she cleared her throat softly to gain his attention. "You appear to already know J'lall here. This is R'niaan of crimson Bamath; weyrlingmaster. I am Korvalia and serve as his assistant."

Introductions made, she discreetly moved a step away from R'niaan in a move that created a gap to allow the boy to see their dragons in the distance. "We are here on Search. Our Ice queen has risen and we will need a class of strong, dedicated candidates for her children to choose from." Her congenial tone was laced with implication that perhaps the boy could be one of those strong, dedicated persons she spoke of. If he were to look beyond the trio of riders he would see her moonlight, enjoying herself as she was sandwiched between two handsome male dragons, flirt that she was.

[shirokage]

He stopped not to far from them, now getting a closer look, seeing it was J'lall his cousin. His smile could be clearly seen as he heard the woman finish her introductions he realized he did not introduce himself and quickly bowed his head, " My name is Mestarian and it is a pleasure to meet you both, and it is good to see you again after all these turns, J'lall." After he noticed her step to the side a bit creating a gap he could see their beautiful dragons. His eyes widened in amazement.

He lifted his head and looked back to the riders with pure determination in his heart he spoke without thinking... " I do hope you consider me while choosing candidates, I have dreamt of meeting riders like yourselves and of course meeting dragons as beautiful and majestic as yours. I hope to one day befriend a dragon that chooses me as a partner and friend."

Natsu poked his head out from behind Mestarian and looked at the three humans as Mestarian spoke with them. Mestarian noticed Natsu and gently raised his hand petting and rubbing Natsu's head and neck... " Oh and yes please forgive my rudeness, this is my firelizard Natsu. He is a handsome little Flame I hatched from an egg I acquired here in the hold."

[shapeshifter]

J'lall grinned broadly, seeing the little firelizard, "Look at that little one!" he said, admiring Natsu from where he stood, "He's very well colored and healthy hide to boot! Well done." he said. J'lall felt a little excited tug in his mind.

Bring him outside to us! Bamath wants to meet this one and so do I! Please Please! Majith crooned, his whole body tense with excitement. J'lall laughed outloud, "Seems Majith is already ready to meet you at least. He says Bamath has curiosity as well, R'niaan."

R'niaan smiled, "Bamath finds curiosity wherever he can." he said, looking out towards his dragon who had laid down, forearm over forearm and his head resting on them, his tail reached out towards Korinath's. R'niaan looked to Korvalia, "I'm sure Korinath is as bouncy as ever and ready to meet someone new, eh?" he asked, rolling his shoulders, "Lead the way?" he said, bowing slightly and extending an arm to Korvalia, allowing her to lead the Search as she seemed to carry the responsibility with a level head, versus himself and J'lall.

[Cait]

If Korvalia’s firelizards had joined the Search, they had stayed with the dragons. In truth, Pretty was more Korinath’s pet than her own and she certainly didn’t mind that. At best she tolerated Croony because the critter was sweet. Firelizard were simply not her favorite animal on pern and she found that they often caused more trouble than not. Croony was useful at times but others she was nearly as bad as Pretty. Still, despite her dislike of the creatures, Korvalia smiled obligingly as Mestarian introduced himself and his flame.

“Most likely.” Kor replied quietly to R’niaan without looking at him. When he offered for her to lead the way, she resisted the urge to sigh. He outranked her, why was he being so passive, now of all times? A sneaking suspicion about his reasons for wanting her to walk ahead crept into her mind and she side-eyed the crimson rider before turning her attention to the candidate hopeful.

“Well, let’s not keep you waiting then. If you’ll follow me I can introduce you to the dragons. Just keep an open mind and relax, they tend to get a sense of people and their potential fairly quickly.” Gesturing for Mestarian to join her, she kept her gait smooth and steady as they walked the short distance back to the dragons. “Korinath, Majith, Bamath.” She gestured to moonlight, purple and crimson respectively. “This is Mestarian….and Natsu.” Sure enough, a little black firelizard poked her head out of one of the jackets that were tied to the riding saddle and chirped a greeting of her own as Korinath lowered her head and unceremoniously sniffed at the boy’s head, ruffling his hair.