Gather Grandioso - Celebration at Cliffside [E]

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

It had just so happened that when Ancalanath informed T’kar that Rilora was present, and talking to another female, Hedara of Ice Temperanth, T’kar was hanging out near a booth that was bedecked in bouquets of flowers.

She is upset about something.

Perhaps these will help, T’kar replied, stepping up to the booth and picking out one of the larger bouquets. He was just about to go when he remembered Ancalanath having said that there was another lady there as well. He added a second bouquet and, after paying, strode over to the cliffs.

Don’t tell them I’m coming, he told Ancalanath. It should be a surprise.

No sooner did he come round a rock and catch sight of the Queenriders, he knew that Ancalanath had been right about how they were feeling. This is going to be tricky, he thought, reaching up to tap Star so that the Crimson flitt would remain silent. Shadow and Boot, Ancalanath informed him, had joined the dragons in sunning themselves.

Walking over to Rilora and Hedara, T’kar hid the flowers behind his back and bowed. “Greetings, Lady Rilora, Lady Hedara,” he said, giving them his most winning smile. “I hope I’m not intruding, but I thought that you might like these.” He swept the bouquets into view as he finished speaking.

[Kaya]

"What's a Gather without dancing?" Holt replied as he took Mau's offered hand. He flashed a huge grin to the brown haired girl in front of him and, as it was only proper, started to move along to the rhythm. He used small movements, hoping that would allow Mau to get her footing with a dance partner. Once they were set they could cover more ground while dancing, a favorite style at the dusty miners' dances that happened every so often. "Where are you from?" he asked, hoping that conversing and dancing were allowed to be simultaneous.

Korith had been watching his Rider dance with Mau when he heard Qui's voice call his attention. He turned his head and took a step towards the other group. That's what HoltMine said too! He then took off at a quick trot to join the others and found his feet not moving right. He stopped on arrival and stared for a moment as Quimyenth and Talira danced. It didn't look too hard. He tried to move his feet like Qui's, though he wasn't sure how successful he was. Does this dancing take a while to get?

[Kaya]

A strange wash of transition hit Rilora as she watched T'kar walk up. She couldn't be upset in front of her Weyr. She was the leader. She had to be strong and confident. She noticed her fists were clinched and slowly made them relax. She felt like she ought to take a deep breath but also like she couldn't if she tried. Untense...untense... she told herself. She felt Archith's mind brush hers, the Gold's feeling of flight and a breeze in her face entered her mind. It was almost enough to believe her hair was flying in the same wind.

T'kar arrived and she was snapped back to the present, realizing there really was a breeze where she was. Oh.

Oh, ....

flowers...! her lips mouthed the words but no sound came out. She swung between relaxed and tense, surprised and contained. Why-?

"...I- I would," Rilora said, reaching to take the proffered bouquet.

[Shoki]

Hedara nodded a little bit at Rilora's comment on the murders. Rainbow Mists had its own set of troubles. In some ways it was harder, she could see it in the way Rilora talked about it. No target to aim for, no antagonist, no one to avenge. Still, Hedara thought about it carefully, intent on helping the Goldrider. Fortunately she had an idea in that area.

"Perhaps it would be best to recommend that people go in groups if they have need to go into the jungle or cross the road, especially at night. It is not only a prudent measure for keeping people safe from those who wish to harm, but also a fine way to keep people safe in general. It would not be good to have someone twist their ankle on their way to Rainbow Mists and have to navigate with it at night." Hedara's arms folded, like they usually did when she was thinking along the lines of her Mother's teachings. Her arms were folded a lot anyway, though. "It can't cover everything, but it is a step in the right direction. It certainly is the only thing to be done without clues."

Hedara heard footfalls before the rider appeared, meaning she turned and faced this new rider before he spoke. When he did, Hedara's face went blank, and she didn't move. It could be hard to interpret, but it could be easily taken as shock. A peculiar form of shock, but it could be construed that way. Of course it could be any number of things, it probably wasn't the one that anyone might have been thinking. Hedara did not, as a rule, like flowers. However, she admitted to herself that southern flowers were very colorful. She thought about these things along side a calculated issue being how to handle it. She wasn't good at false thanks but refusing might not be best.

A sidelong glance at Rilora, moved her to at least some action. She was rather grateful that she wasn't the only one that was at least thrown for a loop. Hedara then took a quick breath then extended her hands, looking at least appreciative. A little. It was kinda hard sometimes. They were colorful anyway.

"Thank you for the kind gift."

[Kaya]

The guard listened to what the man said, dissatisfied with the short report. It wasn't even directed at him. Hmmf. This boy had more to do with it, he was sure. The surrounding angry people were enough to prove that. He would need reports from all of them. Faranth knew this was going to be a long day. Reports, reports. He would need to send a firelizard to his wife. He wouldn't be off this evening for dancing. This would take a long while. He suppressed a sigh and replied to the man on the runner. He looked to see that his guards were still working to take complaints, calm runners and set things in order. A long day indeed...

The guard at K'tar's side moved to make room for the LifeWing. If there was something wrong with this troublesome boy, the healer bird would know. "I hope you aren't hurt too bad, boy. You got a lot of work to do to make up for this."

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

Talira beamed when Quimyenth complimented her dancing. “Thanks Qui!” she exclaimed, being far too happy — she was dancing with a dragon — to simply speak. “You’re actually really good too,” she added. She’d never seen a dragon dance before, but Qui had picked up the beat and was doing an excellent job of moving with both it and her partner.

When Korith joined them, laughter bubbled out of Talira, for truly, to laugh was the only way that she could express the excitement of the moment. Not only one, but two dancing dragons! It was amazing! She couldn’t wait to tell her grandfather T’mas about it, except that to tell him meant that the dancing would be over, and that was a bad thought.

“You doing it!” she exclaimed to the Blue, still grinning. She hadn’t stopped grinning since the dancing started, and why should she? The world was perfect and dragons were dancing. Moving her arms as she stepped and spun in time with the music, she had an idea. “You should move your wings like I’m moving my arms,” she said, “it would look really cool!”

[Shoki]

Kiyosh rustled her wings nervously as the young boy tried to stand and didn't get very far. Oh dear, that didn't look good. Considering there was a runner that seemed fairly wild, she began to scroll through what might have happened. Kicked, stomped and thrown off came readily to mind. The lifewing largely ignored the conversations of the people, though she understood that people were generally complaining. It was none of her affair, she just had to make sure the cute little human was well. As the guard moved away she nodded to him as a way of thanking him and moved forward to get a better look at the weyrling. Hmm, a better view wasn't going to do this. The agitated purple caught her eye and she turned her gaze to him first. Kiyosh looked rather stern at times, and this was one of them. However she moved her head lower and began a simple little song. Then she saw it.


Cr'wean! Come on, wake up. Suck it up and get over by the Runner track. I need something splinted.[/color]

Cr'wean jolted awake at Kiyosh's call, and stretched before getting up, still tired. Splinting? Someone was getting into trouble early. Although now that he looked at the sky the gather had been going for a while. Still, he got himself in the general direction of the race track before pausing and heading deeper into the Hold. He had been here enough for visits and to help out at times that he could easily find what Kiyosh said he needed. He sniffled once then grabbed a spare rag, not wanting to sneeze on anyone. It wasn't long before he found an angry crowd, and his lifewing friend.

"This looks fun. Excuse me, coming through. Yeah I'm with the big bird there." His words were punctuated with sniffles but he was feeling a little better so his flat humor had returned. He slid on through until getting to Kiyosh, and found a boy at the middle of the ruckus. "Hold still." The man with the curly brown hair synchronized naturally with simple song Kiyosh was singing. It was an inquisitive song, one for finding things. So he went through the usual suspects. Well he seemed alert, just hurt. His specialty was more to do with bones then anything else so he went to see what might be broken. Cr'wean started feeling the lad's arms, not finding anything out of place. Lad might be a little sore, but nothing a little song couldn't fix. He moved on to the legs adding, "Tell me if it hurts." He was wondering if Kiyosh was exaggerating a sprain. He wouldn't be surprised.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar suppressed a sigh. He couldn’t even be down two seconds, and the youngest of his fellow Weyrlings was over here chewing him out like she was his mother or something! Not that his mother had ever really cared what he got up to, so long as it didn’t reflect badly on her in front of her oh so well-to-do friends, but he’d seen Jatheiron on the receiving end of maternal lectures, so he knew what they sounded like. Then, before he could even get the breath to tell her to stop it, she started apologizing for doing it, making him feel lower than a tunnelsnake’s belly.

She was gone before he could say anything, to be replaced with a bald-headed LifeWing and a guard’s well-wishes. K’tar sincerely hoped that he was hurt too much to punish, but he already knew that that wasn’t the case, although for some reason his right foot really hurt when he shifted and put weight on it. Biting his tongue to distract himself from it, he tried to stand again, only to be stopped by the appearance of a man with curly brown hair who stood perhaps an inch or two below Lord Famoran’s height, though with a thinner build than the Lord, and wielding a roll of what looked like bandage material.

Great, just great, K’tar thought sarcastically, looking over at the, now silent, Viarth, who had moved a little off to the side to let the LifeWing through. He didn’t really understand why they were so worried about whether he was ok, since most of them were mad at him, but then again, Lord Famoran was like that too, so…

Mine, why are they angry? Viarth whined, looking around in confusion.

Later, Viarth. For now, just remember that they are.

The LifeWing Rider’s hands found his right foot then, and K’tar bit down on a hiss. “That hurts,” he said, aiming for a kind of dry witty comment, though he didn’t quite hit it.

Leave Mine alone! Viarth shouted, hissing and trying to push himself between the other-two-legged-holding-fabric and His.

“Viarth…” K’tar growled, trying to call the dragonet to order. At least, with him acting like this, they’re not going to be able to beat me, he thought.

But he hurt you.

“Just… leave him alone. He’s checking to make sure I’m not hurt.”

Today, K’tar decided, was no longer going so well. He didn’t have the slightest idea how he was going to talk his way out of this one.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

T’kar had to admit, he hadn’t expected to so successfully rattle them. After all, it wasn’t like he’d done anything too outrageous, just brought them flowers. Handing the bouquets off to their new owners, he spoke once more, still grinning.

“So, is this a ‘Queens-only’ discussion, or can your lonely, loyal Kingrider servant join?”

Mine, you should not be so teasing.

What better way to make sure that people stay happy? T’kar rejoined.

T’karMine, are you suffering Flight-loss syndrome?

Ha, ha, you’re soo funny. Besides, I thought the whole reason you agreed to come was because you wanted to be someplace else.

Ancalanath refused to respond, which made T’kar smile. He knew Ancalanath wasn’t all that terribly upset, though of course it had been disappointing, for the big Flame had his eyes on other prizes. Or rather, another prize. A large Golden beauty who was currently flying nearby, to be exact.

[Shoki]

Mau smiled in response, a half crooked smile as she went to dance. She caught the song and Holt's movements quickly, and matched her steps to his. He was very tall, but even with her being as short as she was it was easy to get into the rhythm in dance. Besides, she was used to dancing with people who were taller then her. As they danced Holt asked her a question and she laughed, just a little.

"Where haven't I been from? Most recently from Golden Valley though. What about you?"

Thanks![/color] Quimyenth seemed to beam a little bit at the praise she was given, happy to be appreciated. As Korith joined the group and they all danced together Qui just got more and more into it. This was so fun! She didn't notice that Korith wasn't quite as into it until he spoke to her.

Oh, well its confusing at first. It doesn't take too long, I think.[/color] Qui was confident Korith would get it. Of course it was fun even if one didn't get it right away. When Talira spoke Qui jumped on the suggestion. Ooo, yeah try that![/color]

[Kaya]

Rilora adjusted the flowers so they were cradled in the crook of her right arm. She was trying to admire the colors and smells -- she had been a quick study at plants for the Hall at Golden Flight before her life at the Weyr -- when T'kar spoke again. Enough thrown off of her gloomy mood by the bright flowers and the startling appearance of the FlameRider, she managed to get a quip of a response out:

"Oh, I'm sorry, T'kar. We don't accept lonely KingRiders."

Off and away in the air, Archith was having a good, fairly stress free time with Temperanth. She couldn't help but notice, her own Rider speaking with his Rider, the Flame in the immediate area. Sure, he was showy, but he'd have to do better than looks to gain her favor. She flicked her tail in his direction and dived low towards the waves. Such fun.

[Kaya]

Holt kept smiling, pleased at how well Mau's steps fell in with his own. Dancing was always so much more fun with those who matched your skill level. He hoped her laugh was good-natured, and found that is was listening to her answer. Being from everywhere was a funny answer, so he smiled anew instead of laughing since she was still talking.

"Dragon Ridge," he replied in time, stepping around the dance area with broader steps. He recognized the song the harpers were sliding into. "Ready for something different?" he asked, giving her just a brief moment before starting a twirl for her.

Okay... Korith responded, hoping he'd get it soon. He didn't want to mess up the others' dancing. Then the girl suggested he try dancing an even harder dance by using his wings. I don't know... he told them, extending one wing gingerly. He had stopped moving his feet, he realized a moment later. Now I'm not doing it right at all, he told himself. It didn't feel good.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

Talira was moving through air, floating through the dance. Not that she was particularly graceful, far from it, for her over-long limbs, like those of a baby runnerbeast, were not well suited to things that demanded grace, but rather she was so excited, so full of life and energy, that it didn’t matter wether she got the movement right, or, as was more common, lost her balance and nearly fell. She was having a good time, and that was all that mattered, right?

Seeing Korith falter, Talira raised both arms, like she would if gesturing someone to stand, obviously trying to encourage the Blue. “Come on, you can do it!” she called. “Just do this at first!” She stepped first with her left foot, then with her right, pulling her arms in with the left foot, and pushing them out with the right. “You just have to kinda not think too hard about it!”

[Shoki]

The flowers were dutifully admired and their aroma inhaled. Indeed, they smelled very good. As she held the bouquet and listened to the exchange she decided to jump into the exchange. She usually didn't joke with people she didn't know, but she did know Rilora, at least some, and it was enough to wiggle out some of her flat humor. She timed her comment to come right after the other Queen rider's.

"Terribly sorry, I am afraid you will have to come back with a date." Hedara's humor was like the rest of her, just a little too serious.

Temperanth was gliding around near Archith enjoying the sea breeze. A change of scenery was so nice, being able to relax without worrying about things was a great bonus. The blue wings tilted slightly and she began to rise, catching the wind nicely before turning. It was just so nice an warm here. She was not paying attention really but eventually she noticed the large Flame dragon close. The Ice observed him for a moment, looking at something, then continued to fly just watching the sea.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

T’kar sighed, but his real emotions were revealed in the grin that he couldn’t, quite, keep from curving the corners of his mouth upward.

“But I am as you see me, dateless,” he replied, spreading his hands . His face brightened, or, rather, he allowed it to brighten, “What if I called myself a dearly devoted KingRider instead?” His eyes were full of suppressed laughter; it was warm, and sunny, and he was conversing with QueenRiders, thus, he was happy.

Ancalanath, noticed, oh yes he definitely noticed, that Gold Archith and Ice Temperanth were aware of him, though like them, he remained silent. Archith’s tail flicked towards him, and then she dived towards the sea, leaving his sight. Ancalanath’s tail twitched. He slowly and oh so casually shifted position, so that he was laying with his rear legs tucked underneath his body. After all, the Ice might still be able to see him.

Ancalanath gathered himself, his legs tensing, and then he pushed off the ground, his wings opening as his front feet left the ground, then beating strongly downward at the same instant that he kicked off with his back legs, launching himself into the air. He wasn’t facing quite towards the ocean, which was fine, because his next move was to execute a backflip that he didn’t quite finish, so that he came out of it facing the ocean. Catching sight of Archith, he dove towards her, although he was careful not to come in too close. It wouldn’t do to interrupt another’s flight, after all.

and you might get your nose bit, if she decides she doesn’t want you around

Watch your own nose Mine, I know what I’m doing.