Taking Risks

[darkwanderer]

Miros Vold liked the beach. It was a relaxed, warm and pleasant place close to the Rainbow Mist Weyr where any downcast Candidate could sit for a while and just listen to the slack tide washing by. Miros was sixteen turns old and had tasted the bitter defeat of being left standing at a Hatching. Despite this, he retained his hope that the right Dragonet was waiting to Impress to him. He yawned and stretched his legs. He was tall for his age, but skinny due to a sudden growth spurt that had seemingly taken his body by surprise. His sandy blonde hair was messy and heavily laden with beach sand by now. Several Weyrlings astride their magnificent Dragons had flown low over the beach, oblivious to his pressence and had kicked up quite the sand storm. Miros didn't mind, he enjoyed seeing the many striking hues of Dragon hide whoosh past his eyes. However enjoyable his time on the beach was, he unfortunately had chores to attend to. hauling himself up and brushing off all the sand, he climbed back up the dune he had slid down earlier and started back towards the Weyr. Miros saw people he was familiar with and waved amiably, but hurried on past under the guise of being busy. He was painfully shy and self conscious of himself and constantly worried about saying the wrong thing to the wrong person. Arriving at the Candidate Barracks entrance some minutes later, Miros heaved a sigh of relief. All he had to do was change his clothes and head to the kitchens for his daily dose of hard labour. After that he'd be free to spend some time with his father who was returning later that evening from a flight down to Cliff-Side Sea Hold. He wanted to hear stories about the Hold and he also wanted to practice his Dragon care knowledge by helping his father to oil and scrub green Recenth's hide. His father's Dragon was a practical and patient beast and he indulged young Miros his "practice" as he was uncommonly fond of the boy. Miros found his quarters right where he'd left them and quickly changed into looser clothing, better suited for scrubbing pots and washing floors. Now equipped for some hard work, he left the barracks, heading into the Inner Weyr where the kitchens were located. On the way he had to pass through the Weyr Bowl, which was as always thronged with people. It had been Miros's intention to hurry on through, but this day his feet wanted him to dawdle. Perhaps his feet knew he had someone important to meet and if he had rushed, he would not have collided with someone coming the other way.

[Void]

Svak had been enjoying the new location immensely. Sure she missed her mother and father a little bit but she had always been largely independent from them, and she was quiet sure her mother was faring worse than she was which sent a little pang of guilt through her.

I will have to write her and let her know that yes, I am being fed enough and no, I am not eating everything they have available.

There was so much food! How they managed it she would never know she never saw so much food in her life before even at special occasions. She had done some exploring earlier and found a little blue Flitt that seemed to take on the roll of tour guide very seriously showing her through unknown halls chirping all sorts of information and secrets she could only guess at. Eventually she ended back into the weyr bowl that was bustling with so many people and of course the dragons.

I want to fly again. She thought reminiscently of that one flight she took with her Search Rider. She walked on staring up at the sky as the dragons glided and surged through the sky. I will have to explore the cliffs sometime soon an- She was cut off abruptly as she walked right into someone.

"Oh man I'm totally sorry I wasn't watching where I was going, Hey your the one that showed me to the barracks the other day, Mmmmiros!" She exclaimed proudly finally remembering his name. She was usually so horrible with names.

[darkwanderer]

Miros was nearly rocked off his feet with the impact, but managed to keep his balance. He stammered an apology, but then realised he had run into Svak again,
"Hello again! Have you been exploring? Have you been assigned any chores yet?" Miros asked eagerly. He had so much he wanted to ask her about her home, since he'd never left the Rainbow Mists Weyr before in his life. For instance, did they have Flitts where she came from? Did they have their own resident Dragonrider who looked after them? Before all this could come tumbling out his mouth however, he decided it would be best to move away from the crowded Weyr Bowl,
"Have you seen the cliffs yet? The view is amazing!" Miros asked her.

[Void]

Svak grinned, happy to have run into someone she knew. "Yeah I was just wandering around with a Flitt..." She spun around looking for her little tour guide but it was gone presumably leading someone else along. "Must have flown off when I wasn't paying anymore attention to him. As for the chores no not yet do I have to talk to someone? Wouldn't want to get in trouble for slacking! That would be a pretty bad first impression especially if you want to impress people, which can give you some impressive points and might even lead you to Impress which we all know is the best impression of all" She thought deeply about this new strand of knowledge she just stumbled upon.

"I was just thinking about checking out the cliffs sometime myself! When I was home I would spend as much time in the forest as I could, all those trees and birds it is peace that is very hard to match. I bet a jungle is totally different than a forest though." She thought musing about the differences between a group of trees. "The cliffs aren't far from here right?"

[darkwanderer]

"No, the cliffs aren't far. Just up the dirt path outside the barracks entrance. As for the chores...I wouldn't worry about it just yet. They Weyrfolk are busy trying to assign everyone their duties, so we can afford to relax for a little while" Miros said somewhat slyly. He motioned for her to follow, leading her down some winding corridors towards the barracks entrance. Miros was in an ucommonly good mood,
"I'm hoping there will be a Hatching soon. I'm feeling good about this one, I know I won't be left standing again..." he began to say, but noticed the question in her eyes,
"Oh, I guess I must not have mentioned it before...I've been presented at two Hatchings already but...no Dragonets even looked at me" he explained as they emerged outside into the warm and humid air,
"But this time I know I'll succeed! I know I'm ready to meet my Dragon!" he said enthusiastically and pointed to the dirt path,
"The cliffs are just up here" he added pleasantly.

[Void]

She followed him eagerly keeping in mind where they were going so she could remember the way filling out a little more of her mental map of her new home. "Can't say that I mind them being busy if it gives me a little break to explore the place. Find all the good hiding spots if need be, you never know when those become incredibly handy."

She listened to his story of his previous hatching's filing a mental note to ask him later what it was like.
"Well of course you didn't Impress before," she stated in a mater of fact tone, "I wasn't here, obviously." She tried to put on an air of sophistication and great importance but kind of failed with a goofy grin that wouldn't go away.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

Mine, other two-legs are coming? Viarth focused one slowly whirling, blue-green eye on His. The dragonet, who was nearing his third month of age, was starting to lose some of his babyish speech, the result of hours spent practicing with K’tar. Though in truth, the only reason he wasn’t dancing with excitement was because the two had only just recently returned from lessons and a long walk thereafter.

K’tar, who’d been sitting next to Viarth on the cliffs, looked out towards the path that led up from the WeyrBowl. Viarth had sent him an image of the two people, and he was almost certain that he recognized the shorter of the two... Yes, it was Miros Vold!

K’tar waved, grinning, for though he’d never been on excellent terms with Miros, they had been Candidates together at the last Hatching. Right at that moment, he realized that maybe they hadn’t wanted to be interrupted, but aw well, done was done. He didn’t recognize the other person, a young woman by her face, so he thought she must be one of the new Candidates, there for Aurora Ayleneth’s Hatching.

[Void]

She had only just noticed the violet weyrling when her rider waved at them in greeting. She waved back and started walking towards him asking Miros if they knew each other. They finally reached them and Svak stared at wonder at the beautiful hide of the dragonet.
"Hey" she said a little nervous with greetings when she didn't run into someone. It was just so much easier when you slammed into them everyone knew exactly what to say and the awkward beginning of the conversation was over! "I'm Svak" She at least remembered to say.

[darkwanderer]

Miros remembered K'Tar well. Though he held nothing personal against the young man, Miros still couldn't help being jealous of him and his amazing Dragonet. The violet beast was beautiful to behold and his growing body was already sinuous with great strength and swiftness,
"Hello K'Tar, I haven't seen you in a long while" Miros acknowledged warmly. K'Tar had always been a friendly young man and had always treated Miros well, so he thought it about time he returned some of the kindness he had been shown,
"I'm showing Svak here around the Weyr, so she's familiar with it in time for the Hatching" Miros explained. His excitement at mentioning the Hatching was probably not lost on the other two, he had eagerly awaited it since Aurora Ayleneth had been flown.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar’s already present grin widened as Miros and Svak arrived. He took a step towards them, away from Viarth, so that the purple dragon could turn his head to participate, though he stayed close enough to rest a hand on Viarth’s nearer head-knob.

“Nice to meet you, Svak,” he said, Turning slightly towards Miros, he continued: “Yeah, it has been a while, this purple monstrosity has been running me ragged.”

Viarth snorted, lowering his head — which was now about three feet long — so that he could peer closely at these new people. Mine just doesn’t want to admit, he runs himself ragged.

“Anyway, Svak, as you’ve probably guessed, I’m K’tar.” Rubbing the purple dragonet’s head-knob, he added: “and this fellow is Viarth the curious. How’s the tour going? Have you seen the eggs yet?” Despite K’tar’s not being a Candidate still, he was still palpably excited about the upcoming Hatching.

[Void]

She laughed at the playful bickering of the two. When Viarth moved his head she realized just how big he already was, proof that they did indeed grow so fast.

"The tour's great filling in my mental map of this place. It's gonna be a big map that for sure" she said. "I don't know if I agree with the whole bigger is better thing that's for sure" she laughed. "I have not seen the eggs. I didn't really know if we could or not. Not that anyone said we couldn't it just seemed, I don't know, intrusive I guess.

[darkwanderer]

Miros glanced at Svak in surprise, wondering why no one had showed her the egg chamber yet. But then again, there were a lot more candidates this time around, perhaps they were having trouble finding the time?
"In that case I think K'Tar and I should show you the eggs, they're beautiful to look at. They say some candidates predict which egg will produce the Dragon they'll Impress. I don't know if that's true or not, but it can't hurt to look right?" he suggested with a grin. Miros was liking the feeling of having friends and he wondered if his shyness and awkwardness had been as a result of his own imagined short comings? Something Svak had said resonated at that moment. Perhaps the reason he hadn't Impressed so far was that he hadn't made any friends before now? In any case, he eagerly awaited to see if his friends would want to view the clutch with him.

[Void]

She snorted at the idea of being able to predict which egg Candidates would Impress. "If I were a Queen I would continually change the set up of my eggs and see if their predictions were so good after all." She smirked. "But I would love to see the eggs. Who knows maybe I'll have a premonition and be completely drawn towards an egg and I'll stalk it until it hatches." She paused. Can one stalk an egg? Weird thought.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

“Let’s go then,” K’tar said. “Hatching Sands and eggs, here we come.” He paused for a second, glancing at Viarth. Returning his gaze to the path down from the cliffs to the Weyrbowl, and thence to the Hatching ground. The problem was immediately apparent: there was no way that three people and one three-month old Purple weyrling could travel abreast until the path reached the Weyrbowl.

“I think it might work better if you and Svak led the way down to the Weyrbowl,” he said to Miros, trying not to laugh at the idea of stalking an egg (which gave him a mental image of an egg sprouting legs and running. “Viarth and I can be the rear-guard.” His grin returned as he finished speaking.

[darkwanderer]

Miros nodded in agreement to K'Tar's plan of action, while giggling behind his hand at the thought of stalking an egg. He wondered if the Dragonet inside would realise and perhaps attempt to roll itself to safety? In any case he was eager to see the eggs. He and Svak walked side by side down the narrow path, hearing the steady footfalls of K'Tar and Viarth behind. Miros was now consumed with the thoughts of Dragons,
"So Svak, if you were to Impress a Queen Dragon, which colour do you think you would get?" he asked eagerly. There were so many wondrous colours among the Dragons of Rainbow Mists and each was absolutely stunning in it's own way. Personally Miros rather thought Svak would suit a Gold Queen, though he didn't think she would be disappointed with a Silver or Rainbow.