[random] A surprise visit (open!)

[maggie]

H'lak enjoyed having time to continue practicing the craft he had grew up in. Beating on red-hot metal was surprisingly relaxing. He did not, however, enjoy being interrupted in mid-swing, startling him and ruining the perfectly good buckle he was working on. Especially not by an especially loud and hyper Drydenth. Mine! MIIIIINE! Kobaleth says he is coming! He is in the skies! He is bringing us the little one![/color] And especially not by that news. He cursed, putting down his work and banking the fire before heading out to the river bank where there was enough space to land.

It was not hard to spot the family resemblance between the tall, lithe young woman who hopped off of the pastel blue dragon's back and the taciturn brownrider who met them on the ground. He didn't get to scowl at her for long, though, as the other person who had been on the blue's back launched herself at him. "Daddy! Daddy! Momma said that because I was so good and was best in my lessons this week that I could come visit you with auntie Ri! Are you surprised? We wanted to surprise you!"

"Yes, flitter, I'm surprised," he said fondly. He gave his sister a suspicious look. A serious expression had replaced her usual smirk, which meant no good. Not a purely social call, then. Or at least not an altogether pleasant one. "How's your mama?" he asked, half guessing.

"Zeina's fine," Ridiane answered for the girl. "There's something else I want to discuss with you later. But it's been a long trip. I could use some klah."

"Mommy says that you make sure all the bad people don't get away and hurt anyone. Can I help, Daddy? I'm gonna be a rider like you an' mommy an' auntie Ri, and Auntie said I needed to start practicing being tough and scary like you because you practiced lots when you were little!" He was going to kill his sister slowly for putting those kinds of ideas in the girl's head. Ri was smirking, of course.

"Well you're maybe a little young to be guarding," he muttered. "But there's lots to do in a prison. I'll introduce you to some friends of mine and you can ask them all kinds of questions about what they do around the Weyr, ok?"

"Are they gonna teach me to throw knives? Auntie Ri says that guards are the best at throwing knives!"

H'lak shot his sister an absolutely horrified look. She grinned. "No." He took Haina's hand and turned his back on his sister, leading them both towards the dining hall and, hopefully, towards some civilised company who would definitely not teach his nearly seven-turn-old daughter to splay with pointy objects.

[Spiffy]

It had been a couple of days since Avara had arrived at the prison, and she finally felt like she was getting into the swing of things. Initially, coming from a well established and well run Weyr to a prison Weyr which was, frankly, in chaos, was quite a transition for the goldrider. Thankfully, her attitude of taking every hiccup as a challenge had pulled her through with little damage. Iskierath was finding it a little harder to get used to, the gold was still not entirely sure of her own role in this new society, especially since she hadn't been assigned a Wing, or 'Patrol', and hadn't actually done anything as of yet. She was feeling a bit of a loose end, bless her.

A lot of Avara's time had been taken up with finding things to keep Iskierath occupied, the rest had been devoted to getting to know people. She already had a lot of the dragonrider's names down, even if she'd not spoken to any of them as of yet. It was her mission to change that. If she were to be a force to bring this Weyr back to it's feet, she was going to have to know the people she had to work with. This meant talking with as many of them as possible, if only briefly.

So it was that when H'lak entered, he grabbed Avara's attention for two reasons. One: she knew that one's name! He was a dragonrider. And two: she didn't know him, they'd not spoken! She had to speak to him. Oh, and three: Ooh he had a child with him? And who was the woman with him?

Curiosity taking over, Avara politely excused herself from the people she was currently talking to (two guards, also important to know) and breezed over to the doorway when H'lak had just entered.

"Good day, H'lak. I fear we have not been introduced, my name is Avara," she said, smiling and holding out a hand to the brownrider to shake, "I also fear that I do not know these two lovely people you're with. Will you introduce me?" she said, beaming at the three people as if this was the most natural thing in the world.

[maggie]

H'lak nodded in greeting and shook her hand politely. "Goldrider," he greeted. She was newly arrived, but everyone in a Weyr knew the new goldriders. Rare were the goldriders capable of going anywhere unnoticed. "May I introduce my sister, Ridiane of blue Kobaleth." A smile actuallybrightened his expression a bit. "And this is my daughter Haina."

"His son is too young to travel or I would have brought him too." Ridiane said. "It is a pleasure to meet you, goldrider Avara." She saw her brother's confused look. "His mother didn't want him anymore. It's what I came to talk to you about. I took him. He's in the crèche now." She shrugged. "We'll discuss it later."

"Are you really a goldrider?" Haina looked up at Avara with wide eyes. "My mama's a greenrider, you know! But she says that Golds are like everyone's mama! She said I could be a goldrider one day, maybe, or a greenrider like her or a bluerider like auntie Ri. But I want to have a nice brown like Drydenth! Because Drydenth is so nice and silly!"

[Spiffy]

Avara nodded her head politely as H'lak adressed her with her title. She'd not liked being called Goldrider all the time when she was younger, irritated by the way nobody used her name any more, but turns of the Watch's strict colour politics had ingrained the term into her so deep that she simply couldn't muster up enough shits to give any more. She just accepted it with the required amount of grace and moved on with life.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Bluerider Ridiane, and very nice to meet you Haina" she said, greeting the child with practised friendliness and a smile, which was actually more her nature and little of the practise. Man she loved kids. She remembered when she'd been one herself. She grinned. Ah, fun times. Fun times.

She tried to politely ignore what Ridiane said next, because it was obviously none of her business. Not one bit. Or maybe it was, she wasn't sure what her business here actually was but oh well. She chose to answer Haina instead.

"Yes, I am. My dragon's name is Iskierath. She certainly does think she's everyone's Mama. A greenrider you say? Well that's lovely. You have a lot of dragonriders in your family. That's a good thing you know, because it means that if you do Stand, you're more likely to Impress! But yes, browns are very nice, and so are all the other colours as well! ... all of them," she added, suddenly remembering the added complication of another four or five colours in Warden's particular repertoire. That made it a little trickier, and a lot harder to guess what colour you may Impress. But then nobody actually knew that anyway, it was all down to the dragons, but it was good to guess and be surprised and to guess and be right. Whichever one you ended up with made you happy, so she frankly didn't see how it mattered all that much anyway. She was also acutely aware that Impressing Gold was every little girl's dream, but it was such an unlikely prospect (she certainly hadn't expected it!) that she wouldn't like to plant too much hop in the little girl in front of her. Wanting a nice brown would be a good thing for her, it meant that she was less likely to push away the lower ranked dragons than someone who was fixated on Impressing gold only.

[maggie]

"Mama says that all the colours are good and that it's silly to say that one is not as good," Haina said, nodding at the goldrider's wisdom. "Just some are better at some things than others. Like greens can't fly as long, but they can do fun loopy things! Auntie Ri does all kinds of fun loopy things with Koby too, but Ossie's fast fast fast!" She clapped her hands. She had never been able to believe that the shiny dragons were better than her father's cheerful brown Drydenth, her mother's snarky green Ostrasith or her faourite aunt's steady blue Kobaleth. Even if they got to be in charge most of the time, they weren't better! No one was better than them!

"Auntie Ri said that there's even purple dragons here!" Her eyes went all wide like a little flitt's as she looked up at the goldrider. "Have you met them? Purple is my favouritest colour and I've never seen a purple dragon before!" She had overheard two workers in the crèche talking about the new, odd colours at the Weyr her father worked at. They had sounded scared, but she didn't see how anything purple could be scary. "I never got to talk to a gold, either. Our gold doesn't like people." She pouted. "Can I meet your dragon?"

"Haina, Goldrider Avara is a very busy person, it's rude to ask questions like that," H'lak told his daughter sternly. Besides, not all dragons liked children like Drydenth did and he wasn't sure that it would necessarily be a good idea.

[Spiffy]

"Well your mother is a very wise woman," Avara replied. The girl had been raised good, she could see. Her respect for H'lak just jumped up a level, whether or not he'd spent much time raising the girl. "You know what. I'll let you in on a little secret. Sometimes I wish Iskierath could do fun loopy things like greens can!" she said, lowering her voice and leaning toward the child somewhat, like you do when telling secrets. She winked at Haina, bringing her finger to her lips in a 'shh' motion.

"You know what? I haven't met one yet, but I'd really like to! I've heard that they're really small and sweet," she added. "You've never met a gold? That's a shame. We'll have to correct that--"

IskiDear, are you busy?

Unless you consider arranging rocks in my new weyr 'busy', then no.

Good, I have someone here who wants to meet you. Do hurry, before her daddy takes her away and she misses her chance.

"H'lak, do I look busy? I'm busy being social. Besides, Iskierath's bored anyway. She needs to meet the Weyr too. She's very adamant about that."

Less than a minute later, Iskierath settled her great bulk in the clearing outside the dining hall. Walking over to the door, she placed her muzzle in the doorway, her head being too big to fit through. Who is this I'm meeting then? she asked Avara.

"She's outside now if you want to go say hello," Avara said to Haina and her family. To Iskierath she replied Haina, daughter of H'lak, rider of brown Drydenth. Do you know him?

No, but I will soon, no doubt.

[maggie]

"I wouldn't want to presume, goldrider," H'lak said apologetically.

"Haina, be careful, remember that you will make Iskierath very sad if you aren't careful and you get hurt," Ridiane called. She wasn't overly concerned. Golds were usually even more careful than most dragons, when it came to children. She grinned at Avara's words. "Well she should meet Drydenth. He likes to network. H'lak's not much help. Standing in the corner and glowering is what passes for social with him."

As if just speaking his name had summoned him, Drydenth landed, his eyes whirling an excited light green. Hello shiny Iskierath! I am Drydenth! Have you met the little one? She is my H'lak's hatchling! Isn't she cute? My H'lak has two hatchlings, but the little-little one is too small to be around us big dragons.[/color] He stayed a respectful distance away, but he was obviously bursting with pride. Two flitts popped out of between to monitor the little girl and be extra eyes for the large dragon. Aebischer landed on the girl's head with a grumble and Lavina trilled happily at the gold, flitting around at back-level to give an early warning if a tail or a wing accidentally came too close. Drydenth was almost bouncing with happiness. His rider was being social! And he was being social with a goldrider! And the little one was there! It was a very, very good day in his life.

Haina's eyes went wide as she saw Iskierath in the doorway. She had never seen a gold up close before and it made her speechless. Now she knew why all the little girls in the crèche said they wanted golds. Iskierath was so beautiful. She let go of her dad's hand, almost running towards the door. "You're so pretty!" she told the gold in awe. She blushed a bit, suddenly shy in the presence of the huge, beautiful dragon. "Um, hi, my name is Haina. It's a pleasure to meet you," she said shyly.

[Spiffy]

"People presume, whether they voice it or not," Avara replied, waving her hand dismissively at what H'lak had said, but smiling to take the edge off of her tone.

"Really? I'm sure she will at some point-- or now," Avara cut herself off in talking to Ridiane, seeing a brown land outside, past Iskierath's large golden head, which had withdrawn a little as the child approached.

Hellow Drydenth. Your rider has a very nice hatchling, or so AvaraMine thinks. I have yet to say hello, the gold replied. She rumbled a greeting back to little Lavina before looking back down at Haina.

"She says thank you," Avara supplied, coming up to stand behind Haina, Iskierath talking through her rider. Unlike Drydenth, Isjierath was a little more picky about which humans she chose to speak to. As it was, she hadn't been at Warden's long enough to feel that she knew any of them well enough to speak directly to. "And that it is a pleasure to meet the hatchling of one of Warden's dragonriders.

Yours should not be so worried about bringing the little little hatchling around us dragons. I am sure it will be safe around us, and if it is not so then I will make sure that it is, she said, directing this back to Drydenth.

[maggie]

He is still a baby hatchling. And Ri-mine says he cannot go between yet, it would harm him,[/color] a deep, calm mind-voice informed the gold. My most respectful greetings, Iskerath. I am Kobaleth. It is an honour to meet one of Warden Weyr's golds.[/color] The blue was basking not far off from where he had landed with Ridiane and Haina. He gave the gold a respectful nod, although didn't trouble himself to move. The sun at Warden's was really nice and he was enjoying it.

Drydenth nodded a bit at that, leaning down to nuzzle Haina with a coo. The little girl patted his nose happily. "Hi Drydenth." She smiled up at the gold, still shy. "You're really shiny," she told her. "It's really pretty. If you were little, I think flitts would want to steal you, because they like shiny things." She looked over at Drydenth, then back at the gold. "Can I scratch your eyeridges? I know dragons like that, but I won't if you're the kind of dragon who doesn't like anyone but their rider touching them."

H'lak smiled. "Extend my thanks to her, please," he said. "I'm glad she could come and visit. It is difficult to be so far from my children, sometimes."

[Spiffy]

Iskierath turned her head in the direction of the new speaker, a blue basking not far off. She nodded back at him in greeting. Ah, a very young child then, I understand now. Between would do it no good. Between, as all dragons knew, was a bad place for a youngster to go. When hatchlings betweened, they did not return. An honour to meet you too, Kobaleth.

Avara smiled as Drydenth leaned over to nuzzle the child. He was obviously a very friendly dragon which, although that was good, Iskierath was not really the same. She was not adverse to attention, per say, she just didn't actively seek it, and not when there was a job to be done. Unless that job, as it was now, was being social.

I think this hatchling is nice. Though I am not so sure about being stolen by the little cousins, she said to Avara, snorting in the direction of one of the flits that were hovering about. I think they would have trouble stealing you my girl, you're a bit big, Avara replied with a grin. Iskierath obligingly lowered her head to the ground in front of Haina. Whatever she thought about talking to other humans she didn't know, touching was another thing, and the child had asked politely. "Iski would love a scratch," Avara provided, grinning at the child and the happiness that this was obviously giving her.

"It's her pleasure, not a problem, but I will do as you ask," she said, turning this time back to H'lak and Lavina. "I can only imagine what it's like to have children," she added, her eyes gaining a far away look. It was not that she'd never tried, it was more that she didn't seem destined to be a mother. Something always got in the way, be it the Watch or being Jr Weyrwoman, and all the betweening involved in that miscarried whatever children she did manage to conceive before she could do anything about it. They were old hurts, however, well buried, where she liked them to be. Sh pushed them back there, giving H'lak an 'everything's ok' smile.