Just Visiting

Writers: Avery, Devin
Date Posted: 12th June 2014

Characters: Kapera, N'vanik
Description: N'vanik is visited by a goldrider who brings an interesting proposition
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 7, day 4 of Turn 7

Kapera

N'vanik

The restlessness of grounding had been building in her until she felt
like her skin was crawling with the feeling of being trapped. She'd
been kept inside Windswept Islands too long, seeing the same peaks
until she could draw them from memory and she wanted to spit every time
she looked off her ledge. She needed to get out of the Weyr and see
different sights, run into people who weren't going to give her the
same looks she saw every day. But she didn't want to visit a Hold -
her dragon needed company, and she preferred other riders anyway. The
choice of Dolphin Cove wasn't arbitrary - she knew enough people to
find company, but not enough to feel smothered by people who knew her.

It didn't take long to get suited up. Once the pair blinked from
/between/ they called a greeting to the watchdragon before spiraling
down to land on the beach, rather than in the Weyrbowl. Once there,
the rider slid off her dragon's back and immediately pulled off her
jacket and hat, packing them into the bag on the straps. She gave the
golden hide a careful look as she removed the straps.

**Why don't you see if he's free?**

The gold reached out to the bronze, who she recalled that she had
liked when she had shared a Weyr with him. }:Loseth, it is Riyanth. My
rider wishes to see if yours is free to catch up.:{

}:Riyanth's rider is here. She wants to visit with you.:{

Riyanth... he hadn't heard that name in while. **Tell her to come see
me in my weyr.**

Loseth passed along the message and moved to a spot on the heights
where he could see the gold. He wasn't the only dragon that did so.
Visiting queens always drew attention.

Riyanth lifted her head and made a greeting sound and Loseth. }:Your
hide glows well here.:{ she told him, then passed the message to her
rider.

Kapera tucked the strap bundle under her arm and walked to N'vanik's
weyr, taking the opportunity to admire the layout of Dolphin Cove. It
was a very pretty-shaped weyrbowl, she thought, and the views were
good.

"Greetings, Weyrleader," she said with a lilt in her voice as she
hesitated at his door.

"Kapera. Long time no see." He gestured for her to enter. "What brings
you to Dolphin Cove?" N'vanik hadn't seen her since she left
Dragonsfall.

"Needed some new sights," she said breezily as she entered. "An ocean
with an actual beach sounded divine, and I felt like catching up with
people. How're you doing?"

"Good. I'm sure you were as shocked as anyone when you heard I was
Weyrleader." He had Kapera had gotten along well enough, but he'd had
quite the reputation at Dragonsfall.

"Somewhat. But Loseth picked you for a reason, and from everything
I've heard from people wanting to move here, it sounds like you've
done a good job with the place." Meanwhile, she'd screwed up her own
ascent. It just went to show what the dragons could and couldn't know.

"It looks like a paradise here. Does it ever get old?"

He laughed. "It gets _hot_, but I've mostly learned to deal with it.
So, how have you been?" The last he'd heard, she'd fled Dragonsfall
because she couldn't handle the climate. It had to be more than
discomfort for her to give up being Weyrwoman.

Everyone wanted to know why she'd stepped down. How honest should she
be, she wondered? There were the easy answers anyone could see if they
looked at her gold, and the more complicated ones that didn't show.
"It's been rough," she said, after the pause dragged on too long. That
was the simplest way of putting it.

"I went back to Windswept after the Dragonsfall after I became sick -
months of bed rest!" she elaborated, irritation in her tone at the
last part. "Then last Turn,
Riyanth was injured catching a falling dragon. We only got cleared for
/between/ last sevenday."

He frowned. "Sounds like a rough few turns. Are you both doing better now?"

"We can fly, so everything's fine." She was sure N'vanik would
understand how much being grounded strained on someone. "But now all
the queens are jostling for space, so I just needed to be somewhere
where there wasn't any...pushing."

"Out for a breather? Or are you scouting for someplace to move?" He
arched an eyebrow slightly. She sounded restless and it seemed she had
been for a while.

"Breather's the most important part. I think anyone would go crazy
with five full-grown queens sharing one space - this Weyr's bigger than the
Islands," she pointed out. Though on the latter point... "How's your
population?"

"We have three golds, though we got the third one recently. And our
youngest gold had a... small clutch last time." He almost said
'disappointing' but didn't want to talk about Meledei or Elleth that
way.

That sounded somewhat ominous, she thought, but didn't pry farther.
Still, his words boded well. She was sure her fellow goldriders would
be thrilled to see the back of her - or of any goldrider, if it meant
the dragons were less bothered. "If you think Dolphin Cove could use
me, I'm sure Windswept would be fine with it," she said.

"We could absolutely use you." That would give them a full compliment
of queens, with room for a hatchling if they were lucky enough to have
one.

"Shall I draft a formal letter?" He'd know better than anyone else how
they should handle it.

"I think you should check with your Weyrleaders, if you haven't
already. Then send a letter and I'll talk to Cyradis as soon as it
arrives." Imagine getting a goldrider without even having to ask for
one!

"That I can do." Within a couple of days, even. She knew it wasn't
entirely up to him, of course, but his approval would go a long way
with the other gold riders. Or so she assumed. "Thank you for even
considering this."

Last updated on the June 13th 2014

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