A Wager Between Weyrleaders

Writers: Emma, Heather
Date Posted: 18th April 2016

Characters: Saibra, K'reyel
Description: Chioneth and Erdenth's first Hatching
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 5, day 9 of Turn 8

Saibra

K'reyel

The humming started early in the morning, so early that Saibra woke in a
bleary daze with drool dried to the back of her hand.

**So attractive.** She thought as she pushed at her tousled hair and peered
about the weyr. At least R'enh wasn't here to see her looking so disheveled.

}:Better put your face on quick this morning, the eggs are ready.:{ Chioneth
cut into her thoughts.

"A morning Hatching?" She grumbled as she kicked aside the blankets and
crawled out of her bed. Chioneth's clutches had always Hatched in the
evenings, sometimes late.

}:Hurry!:{ The Queen urged, the humming of dragons vibrating through the
very stone of the Weyr.

Saibra splashed her face with cold water from her basin, giving it a quick
scrub before yanking a brush through her hair. Pulling it all to one side
over her shoulder, Saibra braided it with quick, nimble fingers. Jerking her
nightgown over her head, the Weyrwoman tore into the hatching dress she'd
had made a fortnight before which was a dark blue in shade, nearly navy, and
had an accompanying pair of silver sandals.

"I'm on my way." She assured her dragon as she hurried from her weyr.

That hum was unmistakeable, anyone who had lived in a Weyr for any length of
time would know what it meant. And when Erdenth joined in, that was enough
to inform K'reyel it was time. }:They are coming, the new hatchlings,:{
Erdenth told his rider. }:We will help them find worthy riders.:{

**I know, and would you please tell Saibra I'll be there to escort her in a
few moments, I just need to dress, and make sure that Mai and Mayel are
settled,** K'reyel asked of his bronze.

Saibra, who had been ready to dash down the stairs, suddenly halted. G'nir
had never bothered to come by and escort her from her weyr. It struck her as
incredibly considerate of K'reyel to do so, even though she knew he had his
own family to worry about.

}:She waits.:{ Chioneth responded as Saibra stood just outside her door,
glancing up the hallway as she waited for the Weyrleader to appear.

"Good morning Weyrwoman," K'reyel said formally. He'd ensured his best
formal wear had been cleaned and pressed in readiness for this day. "It's a
tradition of my father, one that I intended to carry on, to escort the
goldrider to the best seat at the hatching. Unless there's someone else
you'd prefer to accompany you?"

"Of course there's not. This is our clutch." Saibra smiled up at K'reyel as
she took his arm. Even though she had tried to set it up so that R'enh and
Mnoranth might win Chioneth's clutch, she found herself increasingly pleased
with the decision that Chioneth had made.

When they arrived down into the Hatching Cavern a throng of people had
already filed into the crowded stands, and the chatter of the crowd was
nearly loud enough to match the din of the dragons' humming.

K'reyel took his time in seating his Weyrwoman and then himself. "A quarter
mark says the first one is bronze," he said, his tone teasing as he surveyed
the gathering crowd. It was a traditional sign of luck for the clutch, and
the Weyr itself.

"We'll see." She smiled. Chioneth's first clutch at Dragonsfall had began
with a bronze dragonet hatching, but it hadn't been good fortune for her and
G'nir in the Turn that followed.

As the white-robbed figures of the Candidates formed a loose semi-circle
around the eggs, the first shell split. It did not present a bronze, but a
slick, mahoghany brown baby dragon.

"It seems I owe you money," K'reyel remarked as he watched the brown find a
tallish, yet young looking boy. The smile on his face told it all as he
began the slow walk of the sands, alongside the brown.

"I'll settle for a celebratory drink later." Saibra winked at her Weyrleader and gave his bicep a squeeze. She was a natural flirt, she couldn't turn it off sometimes.

The next dragon out was the coveted bronze that the crowd had been anticipating first. He Impressed to the oldest Candidate that was on the Sands currently, a weyrbred boy of twenty whose square face was now beaming.

"Good for him." She knew Cavnar had been waiting a long time to Impress.

}:A fine choice.:{ Chioneth agreed.

"That drink I can manage to organise," K'reyel said. Another egg rocked, and cracked, revealing a dainty little green who made her unsteady way to a girl who seemed clearly overwhelmed, even as she was gently led off by the weyrlingstaff. "I don't think she expected that."

Saibra's eyes found the girl's sobbing parents in the front row of the Stands. "Neither did her parents, I think."

As she turned her attention back to the Sands it was just in time to see a wily blue run over a candidate who didn't get out of the way quick enough. An audible gasp rippled through the Sands as crimson splashes began to blossom on the boy's white robe.

"Oh dear." She murmured with concern as D'kere and another of the Weyrlingstaff darted onto the Sands to help the injured boy.

"They'll get him to the healers," K'reyel said reassuringly, even as he knew the boy's hatching was over for today. "but look, the blue found his match." It was a lad in his mid teens, with a shock of ginger hair, that seemed to contrast quite glaringly with the blue's hide.

All too soon the last newly Impressed Weyrling was being ushered off the sands, and the Candidates who had not found their lifemates were filing back off of the Sands to be consoled by family and friends.

"Oh dear, I wait all Turn for this and then it's over in the blink of an eye." Saibra said with a touch of sadness in her voice.

"But then, you, will get to see this again, and again, alongside Chioneth." K'reyel said, as he watched the crowds slowly disperse. Getting to his feet, he offered his hand. "And I do believe, that there is now a feast, with dancing to follow."

Last updated on the April 20th 2016

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

A Wager Between Weyrleaders