Eggs and Wine

Writers: Avery, Heather
Date Posted: 4th March 2024

Characters: Kapera, Saibra
Description: Saibra and Kapera end up at Far Island Weyr's hatching together by chance.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 2, day 23 of Turn 11
Notes: Mentioned: R'enh, K'reyel, J'nus, D'hol, Ashela, K'ran, L'val, Kadira

Kapera

Saibra

It wasn't often that Saibra was able to get away from the Weyr by
herself. Normally, she was accompanied by K'reyel or R'enh, but today
she was gloriously, independently on her own.

Dressed in a resplendent teal dress, whose slender straps crisscrossed
over her shoulders and down her back, Saibra stood for a moment in the
Weyrbowl of Far Island Weyr, simply soaking in the sun on her skin.

}:I shall be on the beach,:{ Chioneth said with the dragonic
equivalent of a sniff.

The senior queen at Far Island was _never_ very welcoming of other golds.

}:Riyanth is here,:{ her lifemate informed her as she flew down to the
coastline.

Saibra swiveled, a hand shielding her eyes as she watched the familiar
gold and rider land.

Kapera had intended to attend the Hatching with J'nus, but Wing
business had come up for him earlier in the day, before they were
informed of the hatching. So she'd taken Riyanth on her own, and if
they could make it, J'nus and Kopth would join them later.

}:She is making us stay away from the bowl. You will have to walk
further and I may not watch at all,:{ Riyanth said, grumpy at the
other gold's pettiness.

**You would have her sit outside as well, if she came herself instead
of being carried on a bronze.**

The gold huffed as Kapera patted her on the side and sent her off.
}:Perhaps I should have let Kopth carry you.:{

Kapera shook her head with a laugh and checked to make sure her look
had survived the travel. She had her hair pinned up in a high bun with
a number of glittering hairpins, and braids waterfalling out of the
bun down the back. A quick feel showed that none of them had been
dislodged.

She started heading towards the caverns, and spotted a familiar face.
"Weyrwoman Saibra! How are you?"

"Lady Kapera," Saibra greeted in return, falling into step beside the
other Weyrwoman. "I am well, I trust you are?"

"I'm doing just fine. Excited to get a chance out of the Weyr for a
nice event on my own. It looks like you're not weighed down by a
Weyrleader either?"

"Well, I'm glad you said it first because I am absolutely _thrilled_
to be here without an escort. Don't get me wrong, I normally like a
handsome bronzerider hanging on my arm but maybe I'll find a handsome
brown or bluerider to dance around with today." The Dragonsfall
Weyrwoman lifted her eyebrows with a grin.

"I suggest a pair of blueriders if you want to make the weyrfolk
talk." Kapera giggled as she said it, sounding more like a teenager
for a moment than an adult goldrider and Weyrwoman.

"It will be nice to see a different group of people to socialize with.
Once we make our appropriate greetings to other leaders, of course.
But then there's the dancing and all the talking."

"Personally," Saibra said, "I'm looking forward to a drama-free
Hatching. My record lately has been..." She shook her head. "A green
dragonet dying at one and then a girl impressing to a blue at the
next. So today I'm hoping to just see happy, happy, happy."

Kapera nodded in sympathy. She remembered Chioneth's hatching where
the green had died - how she and K'ran had run some interference for
Saibra, the bronzerider taking a surprising number of dances with her
to keep gawking rankers from asking questions, Kapera making a point
to draw attention to herself and distract prominent people with her
attributes.

She also remembered how she'd come home to Dolphin Cove and cried into
J'nus until she was sick. Shaking away those memories, she said, "May
today's be more auspicious for everyone
involved."

Filing into the hatching grounds, Kapera and Saibra were shown to
seats arranged for visiting dignitaries. Peering down at the Sands,
Saibra had to admit that there were a handsome number of eggs down on
the Sands. Leriyah's golden Hupatenth was guarding her eggs with a
feral snarl.

"Looks like she's going to be a handful," Saibra said to Kapera as
they watched Leriyah step out onto the sands and place a hand on her
dragon's flank.

"I always forget that Hupatenth's a mean one. So is Riyanth." Kapera
shook her head. "I love watching dragons find their lifemates...but
it's more fun as a spectator, in my opinion, because of not having to
fight your own lifemate."

"Agreed," Saibra said immediately. "And there's not the pressure of
feeling responsible if something goes wrong. Speaking of going
wrong..." she trailed off as a young child toddled out onto the Sands.
Her brow furrowed, wondering where the young boy had come from.
Immediately one of the Weyrlingstaff was racing onto the Sands and
scooping the child up, just as the white-robbed Candidates began
filing onto the Sands.

"How did _that_ get missed? Were they only paying attention to the
candidates?" Kapera asked in surprise.

"Oh, look at Leriyah's face," Saibra whispered conspiratorially to
Kapera. The brittle tension written across the Far Island Weyrwoman's
face was visible at a distance. "Someone's going to be ripped a new
one later for that."

"I'm glad it won't be me." Memories of being yelled at by senior
goldriders still hadn't faded. "Shall we ask her about it later, or
wait to see if something more interesting happens?"

The mystery was solved when M'stan, the Far Island Weyrleader,
disappeared across the sands for a moment and then returned to
Leriyah's side with the child in his arms. The resemblance between
M'stan and the child was uncanny. Leriyah's face remained frosty and
she refused to look at her Weyrleader.

"Oh, there is _definitely_ tension there," Saibra said, waving down a
drudge for a drink and a snack. Might as well enjoy the show.

"They don't seem to like each other. Wonder how long M'stan will stay,
if the next flight will oust him. Then again, how many times have our
dragons been won by someone we can't stand, or by someone who we don't
think would be good at their job? I've never had a Weyrleader I more
than tolerated begrudgingly till D'hol. He's not my first or even
second choice, but a very fine third, because he's so good at his
work."

Kapera thought saying D'hol wasn't her first choice probably looked a
little hypocritical, given that her sleeping with him had caused all
kind of problems - but sleeping with someone because they were fun and
you were bored, and finding them fine to work with as a weyrwoman's
second clutch with some shared time together, and finding them
actually be full-time leadership problems... well, her first choice
was all her heart, her second was all practicality, and D'hol was only
a little practicality.

"K'reyel has been very tolerable," Saibra commented. "So much so that
we took measures to encourage Chioneth and Erdenth's connection but...
first choice?" She shrugged. R'enh was probably the one everyone
assumed would be her first choice since he was her weyrmate, but she
worried that trying to work together in that capacity might throw a
wrench in their relationship. **Now L'val on the other hand,** she

mused, thinking the handsome Wingleader would be both a good time in
the bed _and_ good at his job without their personalities clashing.

"Oh, 'measures'? Do you do that often?" Kapera asked, raising an
eyebrow and leaning in, looking for the gossip.

"Well, I must admit, one of the last times was when R'enh won Ashela's
flight." Saibra rolled her eyes. "I thought I should be having fun
too," she winked at Kapera.

"How _did_ you feel about that?" she asked. "J'nus isn't my weyrmate -
but if Kopth won another gold's flight, I'd be furious. I know I
_should_ be proud of him if it happened, and yet I'm a petty woman.
Don't tell anyone."

Saibra glanced around them before responding. "If you tell anyone this
I'll deny it but... I _hate_ it when R'enh wins someone else's flight,
but _especially_ a goldrider's flight. At her hatching, when I was
having to restrain Chioneth because they were sharing sands, I could
see him over there kissing her cheek and gifting her a necklace... A
_necklace_?! I could have strangled him with it in the moment."

Kapera covered her mouth with her hand and laughed behind it. "I would
have paid to see you strangle either of them."

"It was tempting," Saibra said, laughing as well. "You know, we should
do this more often. Leave the boys behind."

"I agree. Tell them that we can handle inter-Weyr diplomacy just fine
and they're unneeded."

Saibra waved down a passing drudge for a wine refill. "Oh, I'll toast
to that. In fact, I plan on toasting a lot of things tonight, so I
hope you can hold your wine." She grinned mischievously.

"I love the idea of having wine and gossip time. And it's on someone
else's marks, too." As opposed to coming out of one of their own
Weyr's funds for dinner...

The Dragonsfall Weyrwoman raised her wine glass in toast. "To someone
else's marks."

Last updated on the March 5th 2024

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