At loose ends (open) 02.02.3189

[weetia]

Patala frowned as she rubbed down her foster father's runnerbeast. He had been acting so strange since that watchrider had spoken to him just before they left Foothills. He kept giving her strange looks, like she was some kind of dangerous animal, during the entire trip. His oldest son had soon started asking her what she had done to upset him, but Patala had no idea.

"I wish I knew what that dragonrider said to him," she told the gelding. "He usually ignores me unless he wants someone to help with the animals." She made sure he was dry and warm, and gave him a little warm food. She moved onto his son's stallion, and scowled as the beast tossed his head when she grabbed his bridle. "You won't get away with that with me, mister," she said firmly. She grabbed his head, and tied the bridle loosely to the stall so that she could get to his side without being bitten. "Delian may call you spirited, but I think you're just a brat," she said coldly. "He doesn't even want you to behave, but I certainly do."

She ran her hands down the stallion's legs, then started drying him. "I mean, he looked at me as if I were going to bite him," the girl said, continuing her thought from earlier. "I haven't ever done anything to make trouble for him. I go out of my way to be helpful, in fact. What is he so upset about? I mean, he's always a little upset after a dragonrider visits the hold, he says it's because they scare the animals, but he stays upset for days afterward. But this is different. He hasn't been griping about the dragon at all, or saying anything odd. He just keeps...glaring at me. And then jumping and acting scared if I move toward him." She gave the stallion his little bit of oats, removing his bridle, and moved to check on her own mount, unaware that someone had stood just outside the door of the stable and was watching her.

"Well, at least you're a good girl," Patala told the calm mare. "You never give me any trouble." In fact the stocky runners never caused trouble at all. Even the arrival of dragons never upset her unless she could see them. Of course, that probably had something to do with the fact the mare seemed to have no sense of smell. The other two runners were starting to act up again, kicking lightly at the wall of their stalls, but Patala ignored them as she tended the last one. "I know I need to find some way out of Foothills Hold, though," she confided. "I still can't believe they wouldn't let me apprentice to the beastcrafter, but maybe I can change his mind now. I'm only a little old to start an apprenticeship, and if I don't start learning a craft, I'll just end up as a drudge somewhere."

[Sher]

With a quiet approach, a rather androgynous figure had come to the entrance of the stable. A figure that was peering in and listening unobtrusively. Are you sure this is her? J'ain asked Hers, round face thoughtfully skewed. She held a hand against her nose to stop a sneeze. The dust from the straw and hay sure tickled.

Long moments passed before Ansith answered; he was almost at the edge of his sensory range, at J'ain's request. It would be pointless to set the runners into a panic. From the way they were reacting to her presence, they still smelled his scent on her, and that was bad enough. It is. Norrath told me enough to recognize her.[/color]

And gave you the coordinates for Foothills, J'ain reminded him. She liked the soothing voice the girl used, and the confident way she went from one stall to the next. Do you find her... acceptable? Is she candidate material?

The dragon took even longer, and then the response was not the clear yes or no that the bluerider had been hoping for. Talk to her a bit; I need to smell her mind better, and it's hard to do from here.[/color] He paused. Norrath is not a Search dragon.[/color]

I know, love, but the Weyr still has to investigate every report of potential candidates, no matter which dragon brings them forward. There aren't enough candidates as it is. Wait. What was that the girl had just said? J'ain hadn't caught the exact turn of phrase. "I don't get it. Why exactly do you think not having a craft will turn you into a drudge?" she asked boldly, deep voice almost a purr in her chest. She didn't step further into the stable; if the runners were already whacking at stall boards with their hooves, they might actually cause themselves injury if she stepped in and brought Ansith's scent closer.

[weetia]

Patala jumped, as startled as the runners at the human voice, and startled her mare even more. She avoided having a hoof land on her foot, and turned to look at the...woman? "I..." she started, still a little stunned. She hadn't thought anyone was listening. She was careful never to complain about her foster parents when people were listening. They didn't hit her or anything, and she was well-fed. They just...weren't her parents, and she wasn't their child.

"I guess...people without crafts don't always end up drudges." she acknowledged, awkwardly, peering at the other person and wondering why the other two runners were acting up again. "My parents weren't crafters but...if you don't have a craft, it helps to have something to inherit. Some land...or even the start of a herd," which her father's father had given him when her parents married. "If I don't have much of a skill to offer, I'll just be working at whatever job someone is willing to give me, and not be able to make my own choices." She shrugged, still a little nervous. She moved over to the stallion now that the mare was calm again, and firmly pulled his muzzle down. He made a half-hearted attempt to bite at her hand, but she avoided it easily.

The gelding was not as upset as her foster brother's mount, which Patala thought was typical. "You're just looking for an excuse to demand some more attention, aren't you? They really should geld you, you're just an arrogant brat right now, and not at all worth the work it takes to manage you."

She looked over at the other human in the room again, wondering how much she had heard. "I was just running my mouth, you know. I guess I do that a lot, and most of what I say doesn't matter. I didn't mean any offense to anyone, and I know my foster parents needed my help more than the beastcrafter did..." her voice trailed off. Their suggestions about what the older man had really wanted an apprentice for had been rather offensive, but at least they hadn't implied it in front of him. And at least they wanted to protect her from that, even if they were inclined to see something that wasn't there.

"I'm sure if I just find a craft master they are comfortable with, though, my foster parents would let me go," she sighed. Not that she was likely to meet a female master in a craft she was well suited for, and that's probably what it would take for them to let her go.

[Sher]

J'ain flapped a hand loosely in front of her, as though to brush aside the girl's spoken worries. She could be subtle, but it wasn't often in her to be sensitive. "Looks to me like you have a skill to offer," she pointed out. "Being a beastcrafter would just make things official." The bluerider flinched slightly when the stallion tried to nip the young woman, but the adroitness of the dodge had to mean it was expected. "Either you've been working with these animals for a long time, or you're just that good." She grinned. "Either way, it looks to me that you haven't got to worry about making your own choices."

Keep going,[/color] Ansith prompted intently. From him there was a sensation of concentrating attention to a finely-honed point, and J'ain knew that it was due to the distance involved. She didn't distract him with any comments; his was the more important job just now.

What she had to figure out was how far she would go if this young woman was appropriate for candidacy, and decided to decline. There were depths to J'ain's determination that almost frightened her at times; this was one of those times. If Ansith gave the word, she had the feeling she would wrap this girl- she didn't even know her name yet!- in a saddle blanket if necessary to drag her to the Hatching. Surely it wouldn't come to that.

The well padded (but strong) woman cleared the tension from her face, letting a natural smile take it over. "Maybe they'd let you go for something different. What's your name, anyway?"

You're supposed to tell her your name,[/color] Ansith mumbled, almost immediately for a wonder. His presence was heavier, more along the lines of normalcy for their bond. I need to be closer.

"Oh yeah," the woman added, hardly missing a beat, "My name is J'ain, and I'm a bluerider from Sunset Weyr."

[weetia]

Patala blinked at the older woman in surprise. "Skill?" she asked. "I guess I have enough talent that the beastcrafter thought I'd be a good apprentice...." she looked at the nervous runners. "But mostly I just don't put up with their nonsense. The runner might be bigger, but the human has to be the one in charge."

She sighed a little. "I guess that I would be able to work with animals without being craft-trained, but having the knots means you don't have to keep proving that you know what you're doing. And, I don't know exactly what I'm doing with any animals except runners and sheep....and canines, I guess, though only the herder types." She went over to the gelding, and started petting him almost idly.

"My name is Patala," she answered, "I guess they'll have to let me go for something, eventually, even if they don't quite approve. It won't be that long before I'm an adult."

Patala's eyes widened at the woman's introduction. She was a dragonrider? Patala had never actually spoken to a rider, since they made her foster parents nervous. They made all the children stay away from them. "That's why the runners are nervous," she blurted, then blushed a little. It wasn't the woman's fault she smelled like predator, though...why did she come to the stable, then? There wasn't anything in there that a dragonrider would want or need, and the main Hold was probably much warmer.

The runners weren't getting more upset, but they weren't getting calmer either, so Patala stepped away from the gelding's stall. "I don't want to be rude, bluerider, but if you want to talk, could we go outside?" She asked. "I'm done in here, and I don't want the runners to hurt themselves." She was trying not to stare. She'd never really agreed with her foster parents' puritanical discomfort with riders, but it did make her a litle curious.

[Sher]

J'ain snorted. "Maybe they just wanted to keep you and your labor to themselves. If you left, they'd have to hire someone to do your job while you were training, right? They would know that you know what you're doing," she pointed out. Apparently a certain bluerider was quick to judge the situation, and probably misjudge. "You may not be an adult yet, but they can't keep you from leaving to become an apprentice if you find someone to take you on."

The barely-taller bluerider backed out of the stable willingly enough, gesturing for the girl to follow, blush and all. Get ready, Ansith, this might be your only chance to- well, do whatever it is you do. She didn't want the runners to get hurt needlessly either, even though this was important enough to sacrifice a runner or three.

I'm on it. The phantom pressure on wings she didn't possess told J'ain that Ansith was taking to the air, getting a bit little closer. I'll stay downwind.[/color]

Considerate of you, she said approvingly, taking a few strides away from the stable toward the middle of the yard. Ansith wasn't exactly a monstrous blue, but it was always better to give extra space for a landing than was technically needed. "Yeah, sorry about that. I sort of just barged in there, didn't I..." A low chuckle bared J'ain's irregular, klah-stained teeth briefly. Not too far above, her blue was coming down in a gentle glide, nothing showy or too alarming, but a touch wobbly as he skidded across a stiff little headwind. "So. What do you think about dragons, Patala?"

[weetia]

Patala thought about J'ain's suggested explanation for her foster parents' decision, and her brow wrinkled a little. "I don't think that's it, they're always talking about how much it costs to feed so many." she said. "Even if it would cost more to hire someone, I don't think they look at me as free labor."

"I didn't think I could leave without their permission, though," she said. "It never occurred to me to just go with the beastcrafter anyway." She followed the bluerider outside, still a little confused. Yes, the bluerider had barged in there, and hadn't mentioned why. A dragonrider wouldn't need a runner, and she was probably here to speak to someone in the Hold. Had she gotten lost?

Patala glanced up just as J'ain asked what she thought of dragons. The blue was coming in for a landing, and the girl shrugged a little. "They're big and they fly," she said lightly, though she was sure that wasn't what the rider meant. "I haven't really thought much about them, I rarely even see them at Foothills." She tried to think about them now, to give the rider a better answer.

"I guess, to those of us that aren't riders, dragons are kind of confusing. I mean, we know they are too smart to be thought of as animals, but we can't talk to them." Patala frowned. "Then, they're also so much larger than us. Humans usually stay away from large carnivores. I mean, we keep canines and felines, but they are too small to feel like a threat. The only large creatures we keep around most of the time are grazers. I guess most people are instinctively scared of dragons, just like runners are." She shrugged then. "but dragons can't live without humans, right? They're as smart as we are, but they need us just as badly as runners and herdbeasts do. So it seems silly to be scared of them. It makes more sense to be scared of the rider, because if a dragon hurts someone, it would be because the rider didn't stop them."

It seemed strange to Patala though, that the dragonrider would ask her that question. Why did it matter what she thought of dragons? For a moment the girl fantasized a little about being searched, but then she stopped herself. She didn't want to be disappointed, and it was more likely that someone in the Weyr might be interested in her as an apprentice. That would be almost as exciting, even better than apprenticeship in a main hall. Maybe the beastcrafter had been stationed at the Weyr, and had sent the bluerider to try for her again?

Either way, Patala was starting to feel like this conversation really mattered to her future. If she was offered a place at the Weyr, she would insist on taking it. Working around the people that protected Pern would be amazing, and she wouldn't let anyone deny her the chance.

[Sher]

"That's right. Dragons aren't like firelizards, who can dissolve their bond with a person and live on without them. That's part of the reason so many hatchlings go between- sometimes, their human is too far away to feel. It's very sad." The solemn statement put a sour flavor in J'ain's mouth, but watching her blue alight neatly brightened her expression a little. His pale hide looked almost ethereal in the washed-out winter sunlight, and the darker dapples were as eye-popping as ever. A minor Holder had once called them polka dots; whatever that meant. One didn't call a spotted gray runner a 'polka dot,' and the bluerider had told him that straight away.

Anything yet? she asked Ansith, as he stepped gingerly toward Patala. He crooned at the girl, very softly, and crouched to stretch his head toward her for a good, thorough sniff, wings clasped tight and unmoving against his sides. His tail tips quivered.

Working on it, he told His after a moment. His slowly-whirling eyes suddenly shot through with emerald hues of delight, and he bounced up from his crouch to prance a little. He arched his neck proudly, wiggling his toes in the snowy muck as though unable to contain himself. Patala. Do you want to come to Sunset Weyr?[/color] the blue asked her directly.

J'ain blinked owlishly. That fast, huh? His reaction to the girl could only mean one thing, so she automatically clarified his query: "He means, as a candidate for the eggs." Her heart was thumping along a bit faster than was strictly necessary- such was the excitement Ansith was feeding her through the bond.

[weetia]

Patala stood very still as the blue dragon walked toward her and seemed to smell her. That confused her a bit, why would a dragon want to sniff at a person? She wasn't food, and she certainly wasn't any kind of a threat. Of course not much beside Thread could threaten a dragon. She hadn't heard anything about this kind of behaviour, but her foster parents never talked much about dragons. At Ansith's sudden bounce away, Patala exhaled, surprised to realize that she had been holding her breath. He seemed to be wriggling, and Patala found it oddly cute before she heard his question.

She gasped a little, mostly from the fact that a dragon had spoken to her. Then she processed his words, and what his rider said to clarify. "I...could be a candidate," she repeated in wonder. That idea was fantastic, difficult to believe. She didn't think there had ever been any dragonrider in her family, and didn't dragons usually prefer people from certain families? "Yes, I want..." she winced thinking about her foster father. "You said, I don't have to have his permission," she clarified, looking up at the bluerider.

"Even if I don't need my foster father's approval, I should at least respect him enough to tell him," Patala murmured. She had to wonder, though. Was this related to what the watchrider had said to upset him? She bit her lip, worried about what he would say. She would go with the rider, anyway. If she waited for his approval, she would probably spend the rest of her life at Foothills.

She smiled a little then, ruefully. "If they wanted to keep me away from an 'unsuitable' lifestyle like they were saying when they wouldn't let me apprentice, they'll probably regret that," she said, wryly. "Whatever they may think about female crafters, I'm pretty sure they would be even more uncomfortable with dragonriders."

[Sher]

It was a relief that the girl had picked up Ansith's mindvoice; her facial expression had given that away. If the blue had needed to repeat himself, it might have indicated a false positive- any dragon could make themselves heard, but sometimes it required them to be 'loud' with certain individuals. Usually, individuals unsuited for candidacy. J'ain heaved a soft sigh as she shoved her hands each under the opposite armpit to warm them. It wasn't as cold as it had been, but it wasn't spring yet.

Springtime. The Hatching. Threadfall. What would happen if Thread fell during the Hatching...? Ansith's eyes flamed abruptly red in alarm at the thought he inadvertently 'overheard' from his rider's mind. No! he growled, physically still but for the rapid spinning and sudden heavy breathing.

It could happen. We have to be prepared for anything. The bluerider wished she could offer comfort, but honesty was better than nothing. Slowly, grudging acceptance calmed the chalky blue and eased his eyes back to normal shades.

The vocal conversation hardly skipped a beat in spite of the silent byplay. "You don't have to have anyone's permission, no," and here J'ain paused for a conspiratorial wink, "but I agree that it would make things go more smoothly if we could get it. I didn't have permission to leave the farm when I did, either. Should I go with you?" She hesitated infinitesimally. "Do you think the man would take the, ahhh, proposal any better coming from me?" A slight frown of concern marked the bluerider's face. Female blueriders weren't as rare as female brownriders, but some of the Hold-born folks still plastered stereotypes negatively on those who did not share a physical gender with their dragon. The hidebound mindset was in the minority after so many Turns- it was the hatchling's choice, not the candidate's, and it was hard for most to still be scandalized by what was not an isolated exception of typical Impressions.

Then again, J'ain herself was pretty much fitting to some of those female-bluerider stereotypes. She wore her Threadscore scar with a quiet sort of pride, never really drawing attention to it, but unapologetic and unashamed if anyone happened to see it. She pursued men and women for infrequent flings with equal abandon, refusing to settle with just one; not because she was promiscuous, but because Ansith deserved the vast majority of her devotion. There was no other worthwhile love, for J'ain; none that she'd found yet, anyway.

[weetia]

Patala thought hard about the woman's question. "I can't promise he'll be polite," she murmured. He usually made an effort to be polite to dragonriders, since he had to acknowledge they were necessary. However, this might push him a little too much. "I think I should go in there alone," she decided. "He might try to talk me out of it, but I won't listen." And noone else would have to hear his opinion on the dragonrider lifestyle.

Then again, there were a lot of other witnesses here at Lemos Hold. His business wasn't with the Lord Holder, but when she went in to speak to him, there would certainly be a lot of holders there. Would he hold his tongue around them? She didn't really want to get him in any trouble, or make him uncomfortable with people he had to do business with.

"He's actually kind of ok about bronze and goldriders," she muttered. "Not because of their rank, but because he has this idea that they end up almost married." She had heard enough though, about changes in Weyrleaders, to know that wasn't quite true. He had never met a gold or bronzerider, of course, but he approved of them in theory.

She shook his head firmly. "He will probably get upset with me, and he definitely won't approve," she said, looking at the bluerider. "But if you're there, he'll probably lose his temper completely, and I don't want him to embarrass himself. He's never treated me badly, even if he is too restrictive."

[Sher]

J'ain let the girl think on what she wanted to do, and nodded acquiescence. Married? Well, some metallics did establish lengthier relationships, but it sure as shards wasn't marriage. For a moment it was all the bluerider could do to keep her face from crumbling into choked cackling. When she could breathe again without threatening to erupt in mirth, she nodded again more emphatically. "I'll wait out here for you, then, if that's all right. Maybe you should go ahead and back a change of clothes while you're at it; there'll be time to send for other things later."

I'll keep my mind's eye on you,[/color] Ansith told the young woman helpfully. If it takes too long I'll come in after you.[/color]

J'ain rubbed her temples with a hand, half amused and half exasperated by the mental image that gave her. Her dragon lowered his head and bumped her gently. After a smile of encouragement for Patala, she turned to give a few obliging light scratches to the blue's eyebrow ridge, his favorite place to receive such caresses. She hadn't told the girl that she was the candidatemaster's assistant yet, and didn't plan to until they arrived at the Weyr. Simpler that way.

[weetia]

Patala realized that her comment about marriage seemed to make the bluerider amused. "Well, it's what he thinks, anyway. He could even handle the male greenriders," and the girl blushed a little more, "and things like that, if he imagined that they stayed with one person." At the bluerider's suggestion about clothing, Patala shrugged. "I have one change in my saddlebag, but I'll need more, since its such a hassle to have to wash all your clothes every day," she said. She vaguely remembered that from her summers out with her parents when she was little. They had traveled as light as possible, so if they wanted their clothes clean, they had to spend a lot of time at it every day. "I suppose it will work for now, though."

Patala smiled at the blue dragon's offer of assistance. "That would probably make him agree pretty quickly," she acknowledged. The image of a dragon squeezing through the main entrance to the hold was an amusing one. The blue would probably barely fit, though a larger dragon might only get as far in as the shoulders. "I will try to avoid needing your help, though," she said. The holders would probably panic at the blue's appearance inside their buildings. Patala probably shouldn't find the idea of their terror amusing, but after just a few words from the blue, that last instinctive bit of caution about being near such a large carnivore was completely gone. "It wouldn't be good for the holders to start stampeding like a herd of frightened runners."

She turned then, and walked into the hold. Just inside the door, she was surprised to see her foster father looking out into the courtyard, with his face tight, and that little muscle jumping in his forehead. He had been too far away to hear even the spoken part of their conversation, but he had definitely seen her speaking to the dragonrider.

"I am going to Sunset Weyr," she told him, lifting her chin a little to meet his eyes directly. "The dragon says I should be a candidate," and she wasn't at all surprised to see the man's face tighten further, until it looked like he had bitten into something sour, and couldn't spit it out.

"Fine," he said, and that did surprise her a little. "Good luck," he choked out, stiffly, and started to turn.

Before he could leave, she spoke up a little, confusion making her hesitant where before she had been firm. "Someone will send for the rest of my clothes and things," she said, and he grunted something, and stomped away, while she stood and stared after him.

After a long moment of watching him walk away, Patala turned and left the hold again, a little stunned. She couldn't quite explain why she suddenly felt sad. Surely she hadn't wanted to have an argument about this? She walked back to the stable, bemused, and grabbed the saddlebag that held her change of clothing for the next day.

Walking back out, she went straight to J'ain. "I'm ready," she told the bluerider, as she gave the door to the hold a weird look. She hadn't expected him to beg her not to go, or really even to outright forbid her. She had expected some sort of persuasion appealing to her sense of duty or guilt, though. This hurt worse than that, somehow, and she couldn't even understand why.

[Sher]

Holders and frightened runners do have a lot in common, don't they?

Ansith took his usual few moments to process before answering. Definitely not the taste. The blue and his rider were still in the same position, with the minor adjustment that the other eyebrow ridge was receiving attention. J'ain looked up, surprised that Patala was back already.

"Simple as that huh? Great! I think you'll like it at the Weyr. Folks are a lot more open minded than elsewhere; they kind of have to be." The bluerider smiled briefly as she silently bade Hers to lay down. He wasn't the tallest blue- proportionately speaking- but his withers were still a good ten feet in the air when he was standing up. Laying down, it wasn't that much higher than climbing up onto a draft-bred runnerbeast.

J'ain climbed up, not gracefully, but with the ease of long practice. Once she'd snapped her belt loop into the safety harness- leaving the leg straps for her passenger- she leaned far over and offered a hand to assist Patala in climbing up the harness. It could be hard the first couple times, and she didn't want the girl to fall. Should have taken the saddlebag first.[/color]

All right, all right. No point taking chances I guess. "I'll take your bag and run a strap through it; you can ride behind me," she said.

Ansith's hide shivered. It's colder laying down, he informed both females.

[weetia]

The dragonrider was scratching her blue's head when Patala walked out, and she glanced up at the woman's question. "Yes, simple," she agreed. The dragon lay down, which confused Patala for a moment until she saw J'ain start to climb up. She had heard of runners trained to do the same thing, though it was probably more useful when a dragon did it.

Patala took the hand up, and used it and the harness to pull herself up. She was pretty sure that she kicked the blue a little bit on the way up, and she patted him apologetically as she got settled. "Sorry, that wasn't very graceful of me," she murmured. She handed her bag up to J'ain, as she figured out the leg straps. "Thank you," she said, politely, "for that and for the hand up." With a wince at the blue's comment about the cold, she added, "Thank you for lying down, though. It made it much easier for me to get up here."