Tick Tock, Here We Are Again {Council Meeting}

[Wish]

It is time for the meeting, though I don't understand why you all insist on having one today. It's so warm, can't we all just go outside and play tag or dance or something? That sounds much more fun.

Avirith's wistful croon echoed in Alyara's mind, the greenrider smiling softly at her lifemate as she rounded another corner toward the council chambers that was near Iirla and Vl'kan's chambers. No doubt people would either already be there or would be coming soon. Aries chirped from her place on her shoulder, demanding another pet from Ara's hand, which quickly obliged. Lately the trio of firelizards had been loathe to stay away from her, which made sense. They were worried after her trip to the infirmary, so it was only natural that they'd want to be around her every waking moment.

As if on cue Bayi and Stella popped in from between sending with them a pop of cold air as well which to be honest was much appreciated by the young woman. It was starting to get into the hotter season now of Summer, which meant that rain was little and far in between. There hadn't been a single storm since early Spring, and no doubt they wouldn't be coming back again until Fall. Sighing, Ara pushed on the door and poked her head inside. No one was here yet, which was odd. "Hello?" Her voice echoed off the walls, but still no answer came straight off so she took a seat in a corner near where a certain Topazrider would be sitting, and started idly braiding bits of her hair.

Trelis had not had a meeting in a while, in fact the last time there had been an official one that was called on by the Leaders was after Iirla and Izanycorth first rose to Weyrwoman and WeyrQueen after Loraketh's death. After so much had happened though, it was only natural that one would be needed to check on things. Thread would be in their neck of the woods again soon, and wings needed to be checked on. Any sweepriders would be reporting on any activity from Rindell that they've seen, and of course there were those rumors as well. And then...well, then there was the matter of all the stands impressions that had been seen...and the impression of a female to a bronze, which personally Alyara applauded.

Her thoughts were broken into as the door opened again, and a familiar face made her grin. "Sevrin." The once bronzerider smirked back as he kicked back against one of the chairs and put his boots on the table's edge, obviously not yet caring about what would be said. Around him the Topaz and Brown firelizards watched the room, a hiss rising from Aries' jaws as she stared at Kaya. "Easy." The word was spoken from both owners before a mutual laughter session was shared. The two Queens snorted, but were silent and hunkered close to Theirs body, still obviously not liking that they were in the same room but unable to do anything about it. As for Sevrin's Brown Khalir, well he was busy staring at Ara's Green Stella and preening his wings.

(Ooc: So, there will be stuff happening in this meeting besides the discussion of the topics that Ara was thinking about *I put them in bold print* as well as any others you may want to throw in. However, that plot seed will be coming in after some initial discussion has taken place. If you have a Teacher of any sort, a Leader, a Wingleader, Second, or Third, or a Harper they can come in and be a part of the meeting. If you have a weyrling that wants to snoop, well then feel free to have them listening from outside the door )

[Kitsuneko]

R'hard knew (vaguely) where the council chambers were located, but before today, he'd never had cause to actually go there. He hadn't been particularly close to any of the Weyrleaders or Weyrwoman, before Loraketh's death or after, and he hadn't come into his Wingsecond and Junior Weyrleader positions until a long time after that. He had a rough idea of what they would be talking about in there, particularly given the events of the latest Hatching, but he intended to mostly listen unless somebody specifically asked his opinion. He didn't have much of an opinion about threadfighting, or the wings, much less what to do about the Rebellion.

Kaith was, if possible, even more apathetic than him. The brown was lying in his weyr, fully intending to sleep through as much of the boring conversation as he could. Ooh, do mention my idea in there, though, won't you? His brown said. If the hatchlings are going to Impress older people anyway, they may as well up the candidate age limit.

Possibly, if the subject came up, and but R'hard wasn't intending to bring it up. He just shook his head with a sigh and opened the door. This time it was Hari who was occupying his shoulder, and the brown regarded the other flits in the room with interest as R'hard glanced at the humans. He gave a cordial nod to Alyara and the other inhabitants of the room and took a seat. Hari kept a watchful eye on his fellow fire lizards, but didn't move from R'hard's shoulder, and instead he began to groom his wings while R'hard waited for it to start.

[Zirin]

To say J’dol was uninterested in this meeting would be an understatement. It was necessary, sure, but it didn’t mean he wanted to be there. There were times he hated having a position of power, and this was one of them. He didn’t even have Kayath to keep him occupied this time as the Topaz was in a deep sleep, sunning herself near the river. With a pile of skins under his arm, he finally traipsed into the meeting room, offering a nod of his head to the dragonless man. As weird as it was for Sev to be at the meeting, J’dol was happy about it. In truth Sevrin’s opinions mean more to him than many of the other leader’s did, but he still couldn’t help but wonder why he was present.

“Let’s hope this goes quickly,” J’dol mumbled to himself before leaning down to plant a kiss on Ara’s cheek before dropping his skins on the table and lounging in a fashion much like Sevrin’s. He’d sit properly when the meeting got under way. Spazz and Tipsy were both, for once, asleep on his shoulders, though he knew it wouldn’t stay that way for long.

---

J’degar was significantly happier about this meeting than others seemed to be. He liked progress, likes organization. A meeting was the perfect way to share necessary information, not to mention it brought back memories of his days as a wingthird, which put him in a semi-good mood at least. The mood wouldn’t last long however, he knew there would be some ‘unpleasant’ topics. Marching into the room, he scowled at the lazy state of the weyrwoman and that troublemaking ex rider.

“I was under the impression this was a meeting for the leaders and teachers of the Weyr.” He scoffed, his eyes narrowed in disappointment. Shards, the Weyr had been in rough shape when he initially arrived, but now it seemed it was anything goes. No wonder the Rebellion was able to pick on Trelis without much trouble. There was a lack of discipline and order. I know what you are thinking, GarMine. Does your promise not matter anymore? J’degar sat down at the table, sitting straight and tall and looking all the world like a real leader should. Perhaps it was time he considered his original goal once more… someone needed to whip this place into shape.

[Akira]

K’lin wasn’t really sure he could handle going to the meeting, but he had no choice, his mind was made up. He took a couple deep breaths and marched purposefully towards the meeting room. He nodded respectfully to the people that were there, and then quickly took his seat. It will be alright Mine, just keep taking deep breaths. I'm sure they will understand. Bearith’s sweet voice had an instant calming effect on the man, who nodded almost imperceptibly at the blue’s words. He had a purpose for being at the meeting, no matter what anyone said. He was the Weyrling Master after all, at least, he was for the moment. His rank within the Weyr was the entire reason he had decided to come to this ridiculous meeting when he could be out playing with his twins.

K’lin looked at each person that was currently at the meeting and wondered what exactly on Pern was going on. He had a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach, like something big was going to happen. What exactly he felt was going to happen he had no idea, but lately his gut feelings had been correct...well, they have been when it came to his boys at least. But these were all grown men and women, not four turn old twins who liked to cause problems for their mother and father, and their parents dragons for that matter. It seemed however, that Bearith didn’t really mind when the two boys bothered him with pointless questions. K’lin shook his head slightly, clearing away all thoughts of his wonderful, if troublesome, family. He needed to keep his mind on the reason he had came, and that was exactly what he was going to do.

[Zero]

It was unusually dark inside the Weyrleaders chambers, which could be contributed to the large garnet curled near the mouth of his ledge and successfully blocking out the majority of the sunlight. Vl’kan sat in the shadows on the cold stone floor, leaning casually against the dragons thick tail while a spread of different bits of parchment and skins decorated the floor in front of him. To say there hadn’t been a lot of activity lately would have been an understatement. The man looked like he hadn’t slept in a week and for what felt like the thousandth time that day he ran a weary hand through his hair and sighed in annoyance under his breath. Why did he get coerced in having this blasted meeting so early? He was hardly prepared for anything as it was.

Go already, Mine. You’re giving me a headache. Thormyth growled lowly and opened one lazy swirling eye to watch His even as the man had already risen and began collecting the more important of the skins that were on the floor. Vl’kan shot a glare at the lounging dragon before tucking the files under his arm and heading for the door and trying in vain to smooth down his hair. Starfire chirped from where she had been sitting on Thor’s head and flew to land on Vl’kans shoulder. He eyed the bright red and orange colored bird but before he could tell her no, she chirped and whistled as if telling him that she was adamant on coming along. He dropped his head and shook it before stepping out of his chambers and heading down the hall. The whole weyr seemed to have lost its mind lately, why not have birds in the meeting?

A few moments later and he was pushing the doors to the meeting chambers open and striding in. Immediately his eyes swept the room to take account of everyone who had arrived. For a moment his gaze rested on the dragonless man lounging in one of the chairs but he shook his head as if to dismiss whatever he had been about to say and continued to head for his seat. Only once he got there, he didn’t sit. Dropping the small stack of skins of the table he rested his hands against the worn but polished wood and surveyed the room and made a mental note of who wasn’t here. His attention then snapped to J’degar, the only one who seemed to look like he was at a meeting and not a casual get together.

“Candidates.” Vl’kan paused and quickly shuffled through his stack of skins till the right one was located. “Do they not go through a proper class in Sands etiquette? Or are we encouraging them to attack and fight the hatchlings now?” Without waiting for a response from the older man, Vl’kan turned his eyes on the bluerider in the room; his Weyrling Master. “They’re your ragtag little group now. Do you think you can handle them on your own, K’lin? Or are you going to require some extra assistance with their lessons?”

“Speaking of weyrlings, I’m surprised no one has yet to mention the fact that we have a girl who impressed our youngest bronze.”

Vl’kan glanced to the chamber doors in time to see S’val walking in, two of his three ‘lizards perched on each shoulder, and moving to take the nearest available seat. He was followed shortly by Ar’rex who said nothing, though looking a little on the hungover side, and only dropped into a chair besides J’degar. Vl’kan eyed the grizzled bronzerider with his customary black cloth hiding his blind left eye from sight. Neither of the two newcomers looked too pleased in the slightest.

“I was just getting to that…”

[/font]

[Bellatora]

Iirla shouldn't have been up. She shouldn't have been working. But she was anyways. And she certainly shouldn't be taxing herself by going to a meeting. But there was the Werywoman, walking through the door, her trio of flitters in tow, her very egg heavy Ama, on her shoulder, hissing irritably. She had left Kiira in the capable hands of K'lin's weyrmate, though she did have two little handfuls of her own already. She was dressed simply in a white tunic and soft black pants. Her hair was pulled back from her face. "We cannot change who the bronze Impressed to or even have stopped it form happening. It seems that more is happening with the dragons than we had thought." She looked at Sevrin. "If you wouldn't mind getting your feet of the table and sitting up straight." She turned to S'val and motioned for him to take a seat and walked to her place, also motioning to K'lin. "I would strongly suggest you take some assistance, K'lin." She looked aorund with a raised eyebrow.

Oh there she was. The soon to step down CandidateMaster walked into the room, hands clasped behind her back, head held high, looking very official for all intents and purposes. She said nothing, but she wore a frown, as though she was thinking deeply on something. She took a seat and sat without a word. She was still rather irritated with the lack of decorum from two of her pupils. Though she had not taught that class. It had been one of the more qualified weyrfolk who had. She would have to find olut who and give them a lesson. She had been given the time off to spend with her weyrmate, Gl'wein, who had only recently returned. She couldn't have asked for anything better, and yet... She suppressed an irritated sigh and looked up, giving a nod to the Weyrleader in respect... and the Weyrwoman, which only made for a deeper frown. Their Weyrwoman had only recently given birth. She shouldn't be here.

Iirla nodded to Samara and turned her attention to her mate, gently placing a hand on his back as she stood as straight and tall as she could muster. "We have many pressing matters to discuss." She looked at Vl'kan again. She gave a soft sigh and looked at Alyara. The woman should be resting as well. She gave her a soft smile. Alyara was a great woman to have around. She was a leader, a real one, even if she didn't ride a ranking dragon. sHe was a teacher, which was something, but she could be a lot more in Iirla's opinion.

[Zirin]

J’degar scowled at everyone in the room as the meeting seemed to begin. If he had had things his way, the brownrider never would have allowed half the candidates onto the sands, but as weyrlingmaster he had no say in the matter, he only had to hope whoever dealt with the candidates would whip them into shape in time for J’degar to take over their weyrling training. He was glad he only had to oversee a single day of chores with the candidates; he hated candidates, hated everything about them. Not to mention all of his free time was already taken up by his responsibilities as a weyrlingmaster. He could hardly be expected to do a candidatemaster's job on top of his own.

“It is no surprise to me that the candidates were in such a poor state for the hatching. It seems our resident candidatemaster was too busy playing hooky with Gl’wein to step up to her responsibilities and find an adequate replacement.” He sneered at Samara. It was no secret he held no fondness for the fellow Southerner, he hated all women fighting dragons. “Such blatant disregard for rules and responsibilities are only be expected from a woman.No doubt this female bronzerider will be just as irresponsible.”

He paused to give Ar’rex a nod, agreeing entirely with the other man’s opinion on the bronze. Something surely needed to be done. “It appears the searchriders aren’t doing their jobs properly either. Had more boys been searched the bronze make have picked a more suitable male instead of settling on that girl.” Not to mention they may not have had so many stands impressions. He had never seen such a messed up ratio before. Not to mention he was bitter that so many dragons found Theirs among the stands; had there been more candidates on the sands, maybe his weyrmate wouldn’t have been picked. What is done is done, GarMine. Taking it out on the weyrlings will not solve anything.

“It appears there have been miscommunications somewhere along the line,” J’dol finally cut in, sitting up straighter, though there was still laziness to his posture. He glanced around the room, giving Iirla a look that clearly showed he thought she should be resting. The woman was pushing herself too much, it was bound to backfire one of these days. “I don’t see anything wrong with a girl on a bronze. The dragons know best, so I don’t doubt the girl has what it takes to be a bronzerider.” J’dol didn’t see the problem at all; dragons impressed, weyrlings trained, life went on. It was silly fights over what the dragons looked like and who they impressed that had caused all the trouble with the Rebellion.

“No matter, the girl’s a weyrling now. I trust our weyrlingmasters will train her properly without any bias.” At that he gave a disapproving look at J’degar, knowing the brownrider tended to treat the female riders differently. “But there are more important things to worry about than a couple stands impressions and a girl on a bronze. Thread still remains our constant enemy. As long as the weyrlings become proper riders we shouldn’t be wasting our time worrying about them. Have the previous batch of weyrlings meshed well into the wings?” He reached up to rub at Spazz’s chin as the blue flit started to wake. He only hoped he could keep his pets under control until the meeting ended. He didn’t doubt that the meeting was going to be more headache than it was worth.

The topazrider could already see the divide in beliefs in the room. He couldn’t help but feel that the meeting would quickly degrade into a yelling contest of opinions. With a worried sigh, he glanced over at Ara and placed a hand on hers reassuringly. The last thing the greenrider needed was an extra batch of unnecessary stress.

[Elessar]

Iro'ris was less than pleased about attending such a meeting of those in power, but he was beginning to understand that having Impressed to the newest Topaz in the Weyr, these things were expected of him. Slipping into one of his nicer tunics, he straightened his hair, gave Saekath a pat on the head, and set off toward the meeting chambers.

Already, his walk was becoming more confident, more prideful. He could only blame his precious Lion Queen for that, but it didn't matter. He was a leader now, whether he wanted to be or not.

Entering the meeting chamber, his eyes roamed around those already there before he finally took a seat next to J'degar, the only one he truly knew and trusted. His eyes narrowed briefly at Iirla, Samara, and Vl'kan, as if siezing them up. Finally, he inclined his head briefly toward the Weyrwoman. "Good to see you out of bed and working again, m'lady," he told her briefly.

In his opinion, she had been absent for too long. In just his few days as a rider, he had realized that the weyr was in terrible shape. No wonder the Rebellion was having such an easy time picking off their Candidates. Following the conversation sharply, he turned to Vl'kan.

"Even though I was not a Candidate, I was present at the only lesson given, and it was not given by the Candidate Master, but by J'degar, who was kind enough to fill in. Without his guidance, I suspect the Candidates would have been an even worse mess than they were." His eyes briefly flashed to J'degar.

Show them who we are, Iro'risMine! We are not to be messed with![/color]

The man absently straightened his tunic. "I know I'm only a Weyrling, and the newest addition to this pleasant group, but I believe my voice, and my dragon's, has the right to be heard, especially seeing as I was one of those who Impressed from the Stands, which seems to be an issue for some."

Turning to J'dol, he nodded. "As a fellow Topaz rider, you understand that the trend seems to be that Topaz dragons Impress only, or mainly, to men." Yes, he had done his reasearch before coming to the meeting. "There has never been a female on a bronze before. Even though I came from the Stands, I argue that either Search Riders aren't doing their jobs properly, or the Rebellion is moving in."

He took a deep breath, paused, and continued. "With Thread as our main threat, the Rebellion has easy access to those who may Impress. They also seem to be having an easy time attacking us, because, well..." Do not be afraid. They cannot take me away from you. I will protect you until my very last breath.[/color] Iro'ris took strength from his dragon's words.

"The Weyr is in very poor shape. It's not organized, and things seem to be going wrong every day. This needs to change."

___________________

S'bel had entered mid-way through Iro'ris' speech, taking a seat as far away from Iirla as possible. He had his own opinions, but he could see that there was going to be a rift in opinions already. He wouldn't be surprised if some simply walked out on the meeting, in fact.

He planned to stay silent until either his opinion was asked, or something so pressing came up that he felt he had to speak. He was mildly shocked at the newest Topaz rider's boldness. As a Weyrling, he had no authority to be speaking like that... but S'bel admired the man's boldness, and he seemed to hit a lot of topics right on the head. Good job, crazy man.

[Wish]

Alyara quickly found that she had to bite her lip on more than one occasion. In fact, she was currently having to as she listened to someone else talking about the group that were most definitely her weyrlings. The offered hand from her weyrmate was greatly appreciated, and quickly taken, her own fingers lacing between J'dol's as she tried to keep calm and not outright yell at the lot of them. Instead, she gave herself a nice five seconds-no scratch that, ten seconds- to breathe before kicking Sevrin lightly in the back. " 'ey, do what Iirla said and sit up." The dragonless man raised an eye brow but straightened, shrugging his shoulders in a what-can-you-do fashion.

"Look, first of all I think we all know something needs to be done, that's why this meeting was put up in the first place. However, things aren't as bad as you all have decided to make it to be. First off, get off your sharding high runner and come to the realization that just because there's a girl riding a King, it doesn't mean she's any worse a leader than a guy. That is just plain rude." The greenrider stood up, not able to stay in one place, and walked behind her weyrmate to place a hand on his shoulder. "Second, I for one think for the time being we need a change in the dynamics for teaching. It seems that we've been taking each other's jobs as is, and yes I'm using we because I was going to go back to teaching as well, however I think that a mutual work-group of a few riders will be enough to cover the candidates and weyrlings both and not be so strict about who is with what group. Sometimes lee-way is a good thing."

She looked around to the different riders, then back at Iirla and J'dol with a slightly incline of her head. "Iro'is and J'dol are correct though, Thread is a major problem, as is our Holds. There hasn't been anyone to go and converse with the Lord and Lady Holders at Apolla and Sollace for quite some time if I'm not mistaken. Search riders not only deal with picking out candidates, but they also help to give us news. I think maybe we need to have a little survey of sorts in the wings asking who would like to go out on searches or sweeps. It might even be good to teach the older weyrlings a lesson about how to search and deal with Holders while on search."

Stifling a yawn against the back of her hand, and realizing that she hadn't taken a breath in a while, Ara stopped for a moment as if considering something Avirith was telling her. "The fact is, not all of the Wing positions are filled, and we need help covering everything I'm sure even among the Queen's Wing. I'm grateful that you've impressed another Queen, but as you said you are just a weyrling at this time...." I wish we still had the other two with us, or another Queen, or something. Just someone who could help pull rank a bit, you know what I mean Avirith.

The green however was simply chortling with incomprehensible laughter.

[twitchie]

Ooma knew very well she shouldn't be doing this, spying in on a meeting, but she was bored and deadly curious. She had watched R'hard enter, and felt almost jealous he could be a part of the meeting. Not that she envied the hard work, but the excitment of such new and discussion...
Mine? You are so silly. If you are caught it could be bad... [/color]

I won't be caught. I'm not a fool.
She snapped, too embaressed to confess her dragonet's voice had just scared her to death.
Breath, in. Out.

Carefully, Ooma strained her ears to listen to what went on inside, struggling to tell the speakers apart...

[Kitsuneko]

R'hard grimaced as the conversation started. Apparently he was smart to want to stay out of it; it seemed a fight was beginning to brew, and no matter which side he agreed with, he'd probably end up angering someone. The last thing R'hard wanted to do was make some enemies. It did seem silly to him that some of the riders were so caught up on this female bronzerider. Really, after the appearance of sub-queens and garnets, a female kingrider seemed tame in comparison.

Finally, at Kaith's urging, though, he did speak. "If finding enough candidates is a problem, perhaps we could also adjust the age limit of candidates accepted. This last hatching proved that dragonets are willing to take older candidates than are traditionally approved to stand, and even go out of their way to find them. Might as well make it official."

[Akira]

K’lin watched everyone arriving quietly, his head already swimming with confusion. It was because of this that he almost missed Vl’kan’s question, though he didn’t really have a chance to reply before it seemed that everyone started talking at once. That is actually why I’m here Vl’kan. I am here to let everyone know that I will no longer be teaching the Weyrlings. I do not know who will step up to replace me as Weyrling Master, but I must take some time to myself and prepare my family for Thread. After speaking with more calmness than he actually felt, he sat down and waited to see what was going to happen. He wasn’t expecting what actually came. He felt like his heart was going burst from his chest at what he heard, and then saw, almost in the same breath.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It wasn’t the last minute choice that most people would think, but the man didn’t care. He was going home, but he wasn’t so sure it was going to be the smooth reception he had planned. So much has changed since he left, there had even been a couple of clutches since. At the thought a small smile spread across his lips. It’s time they know we’re here. It was almost as if on cue, as if everything had been planned. Alyara had barely just finished speaking when a roar echoed around the Weyr. If only all the others knew what was secretly going on behind the scenes. The large topaz dragon circled high above the Weyr, roaring as loud as she possibly could. She was back at the home where she had been borne, and where she felt was her home. No matter what anyone said.

D’tri smiled broadly when he saw the eavesdroppers. He winked at them, but kept his mouth shut. He remembered what it was like to be young and wanting to know what the grownups were talking about. He pushed through the doors just as Chahaturth started roaring, his face once again emotionless. He stared around the room at all the people gathered there, not quite sure what to make of what was going on. I hope it isn’t too little too late, but we are back. He glanced at Ara, then at Iirla and J’dol. He knew that none of them were really expecting this, but he didn’t really care either. He was just happy he was home, and had no plans on leaving any time soon. Not without a bloody fight at least. He felt Chahaturth at the back of his mind and stood a little straighter. They were home.

[Zirin]

J’degar looked up in surprise as Iro’ris stormed into the room and immediately shot into sharing his opinion. It was such a vast difference from what he was used to when it came to the cook, and the surprise clearly showed on his face for a few moments before he managed to get his expression under control. He was beyond pleased to know one of the weyrwomen was, more or less, on his side. Perhaps the dragons really did know best. At the same time, Iro had become something that J’degar disliked; a mutant rider, and a queenrider at that. It was just wrong, though his Turns at Trelis had helped him come to terms with the new colours at least. At the very least, he tipped his head in thanks for Iro’ris’ support.

“If it wasn’t that bad, there wouldn’t be a need for this meeting at all, Alyara. As to females and leadership, you can’t honestly tell me you haven’t noticed that things have improved since Weyrleaders Vl’kan and R’hard were instated.” He glanced at the two ‘leaders before turning back to the greenrider. She was living proof of a woman’s inability to lead. She wanted to play nice and fix everything with hugs and kisses. They needed men in charge to make sure things could be dealt with with force when necessary. Take a survey to find searchriders? Shard it all, they could just tell everyone to do search and be done with it. “Women can be excellent leaders, sure, but their duties are within the Weyr alongside the headwoman. That weyrling will, no doubt, believe she can lead a wing, and that’s a man’s job. Always has been, always will.”

He shuffled through his skins after that for a moment, quickly pulling one out that listed off the wings and their ranking members. “Frankly, the positions in the wing are the responsibilities of the Wingleader. The Weyrleaders can’t be expected to set up the wingseconds and thirds for the other wings. Wingleaders S’val and S’bel are responsible for the members in their wings; they should know who is capable of filling the positions better than any other.” He rolled his eyes at the woman’s idea of ‘sharing’ the responsibilities. Shard it all, he hadn’t signed up for this crap! “You can do whatever you want with your weyrlings, but I’ll say this now. I want nothing to do with a group of candidates. Once was too much and I have better things to do with my time than babysit a bunch of hopeful idiots.”

He didn’t even like teaching the weyrlings! He missed being a member of a real wing, seeing the action he trained for day in and day out. He sat back, relaxing slightly without looking casual about the meeting. He nodded in agreement to the suggestion made by R’hard. “Perhaps having older candidates will ensure we won’t see such a blatant disregard for the rules and traditions of a hatching.” He couldn’t add any more to his thought though as an all too familiar face came strolling like he owned the place. Here, J’degar knew, he had no say in the matter. D’tri’s return was something the ‘Leaders would need to discuss. After all, rumor had it the topazrider had come into some rank in the Rebellion, what’s to say he wasn’t here as a spy?

---

J’dol groaned. How were they supposed to reach any agreements with this bunch? It was clear the opinions differed greatly and frankly, J’dol would rather be anywhere but here. He grinned broadly as the newest topazrider went ahead and showed his stuff, proud that the weyrling was that brave already. Maybe J’dol would be able to relax and entrust this fellow with work down the line? He could see a vacation in his future, woohoo! J’dol really, pay attention or you’ll miss something. Grumbling, he leaned forward, having only barely caught Iro’ris’ comment.

“That’s true. The Rebellion did give us quite a bit of trouble in the earlier days with stealing candidates. Have there been any reports of mysterious dragons in the area? It could be part of the problem.” He gave another lazy wave of his hand. Really, if the Rebellion was stealing candidates they would simply need to make sure the candidatemasters were working harder or something. Searchriders bringing in more candidates would likely fix that problem anyways. “What say we have the weyrlingmasters include a lesson or two on how to search potential candidates, and the proper etiquette for searching from the Holds? We get more searchriders and we don’t have to worry as much about potential candidates being missed.”

He yawned openly, not really caring if he was seen as a slacker. He got his work done when he needed to, so he could care less how others saw him. “Oh come on Ara, the queen’s wing is barely a wing anyways. I don’t really think we need a wingthird in any hurry… Iro’ris here will be part of it in a little over a Turn. We’ve held out this long already, whats another few months?”

He did, however, straighten up as both Samara and K’lin spoke of stepping down from their positions. K’lin had been a weyrlingmaster before J’dol impressed, it seemed wrong to think of him as anything else. “Well… the Nightsingers class will be graduating soon wont they?” He asked J’degar, who promptly nodded. “That’ll leave us with both you and Ara to take care of this new batch, you wont need more help will you?” Again, J’degar replied with a simple shake of his head. The junior weyrlord glanced up at an all too familiar voice at the same time as Kayath’s voice broke into his mind. That sharding wench is back! And taking away MY attention! Get rid of her Mine! Send her away again!

J’dol would do no such thing however. Instead, he shot up out of his chair and threw himself at the other topazrider. “D’tri!” He practically sang as he tackled the man. Screw being professional!

[Akira]

Ever heard the saying, “Caught like a deer in the headlights.”? Well if you have then you know how D’tri felt at that moment. He knew more than a few of them probably felt as though he was here just to betray the Weyr that had given him the other half of himself, but in all truth, he was just home. That was all he wanted, whether anyone wanted to believe this or not was up to them, though he hoped that no one would want them gone without giving them a try. Chahaturth landed in the Weyrbowl as gracefully as she could, not caring if she drew anyone’s attention. You have nothing to worry from me Kayath. You may have the attention you seek. I just wish to rest. As she spoke, the topaz dragoness was walking gracefully towards a shaded corner out of the way of most of the Weyrbowl.

D’tri wasn’t expecting the greeting he got from one person in particular. He chuckled softly and lightly wrapped his arms around J’dol in a friendly hug after being tackled to the floor by the other topaz rider. It is nice to see you again too J’dol, but now may we get off the floor please? It was obvious by the way he spoke that he had changed during his stint in the Rebellion, but the glow of pure happiness in his voice and on his face was sure evidence at his joy at being back at Trelis and among people he had known since he had been a candidate. Of course he felt like a kid in a candy store knowing that at least one person was happy to have him back, even though the other man’s topaz obviously still held a grudge against his own. I see Kayath hasn’t changed. There wasn’t only a childish smile in his voice, but on his face as well.

That’s when Iona decided to make an appearance. She came from Between with a very loud “pop” and landed elegantly on a shelf near where J’dol had tackled D’tri to the floor. The gold firelizard looked down at the two men and growled at them before chittering at them angrily and indignantly. She felt she was being embarrassed by the way Her’s was behaving and was scolding not only him, but J’dol as well for being part of this entire fiasco. Didn’t they know a queen deserved a proper introduction to a waiting audience. She snorted, turned away from them in a huff, and sat on the shelf taking in the other people and firelizards in the room with a quiet dignity that she had gained over eight turns of life. She would just have to ignore the two men until they figured out how to act properly.

[Kitsuneko]

If R'hard was a more conceited man, or even just a more confident one, he might have been upset that D'tri's dramatic return had upstaged him so soon after he finally spoke up. As it was, though, he was relieved to fade more or less into the background again. He nodded briefly in welcome at the topazrider, but his attention drifted to the Weyrleaders, wondering how they would take D'tri's return. Spy or sincere, R'hard didn't know the man well enough to tell, but he couldn't help wishing D'tri hadn't been the only one to come.

Hari had withdrawn closer to R'hard's shoulder as the number of fire lizards and huntyres in the room grew. The brown flit was too independent and introverted to be completely comfortable around this many people, especially with such strong emotions on the surface of their thoughts. R'hard didn't blame him for being nervous. In a smaller group, he might have greeted the queen newcomer and some of the others, but it was getting to be to much for him. The fire lizard slithered down R'hard's chest and underneath the table, curling up beside the dragonrider's leg in the dark.