After a brief discussion with Lord Pax concerning Jemma, the bronze rider was ready to take the maiden to the Weyr.
"If you impress the queen, and I suspect you will, your belongings will he brought to your weyr," Skye explained and mounted Osgilith, fitting comfortably between two of his neck ridges. Osgilith bowed to the side then, allowing Jemma easy access to which she could climb on behind Skye.
"You must hold on tightly, and hold your breath when we go between. The cold is chilling, especially for folk who are not used to it, "The bronze woman warned and waited for her passenger to be comfortably seated and holding onto her before the bronze took to the air.
"Hold your breath," Skye instructed and the moment the girl did there was blackness and a cold that went straight through her bones. It only lasted the amount of time a person needed to cough thrice before the three were gliding in smoothly over Ostagar Weyr.
A few other riders were blinking into the sky above the Weyr, some carrying two or three maidens. Skye had confidence in her own candidate. The girl seemed somewhat shy, but Osgilith had assured her that the potential was there. She would not have brought her otherwise.
The dragon riders' home was a network of interconnected caves and caverns in the side and within a long dormant volcano, Piemur's Volcano, a small island not far off the western coast of the Southern Continent. It rested just north of the Great Bay, and housed the Weyr. The hunting and farm grounds were on the mainland, supplied healthily by the rich volcanic soil.
Dragons rested on rock ridges and flew about feasting in the natural herd grounds or bathing in the hot lakes at the base of the mountain. Some trumpeted when the riders blinked into the air above them, signaling their return.
Osgilith glided in smoothly to a ledge which connected to his and Skye's weyr, "You may stay here if you wish or go into the Bowl with the others?" Skye offered to the girl. Most maidens would be taken straight to the Bowl and instructed and cleaned, but there had been so many that Skye didn't think it would hurt to offer her own weyr in its stead. The girl would need time to focus, and an entire group of other women in the same situation might distract her. It had happened before.
"Here is perfectly suitable. Is this your room? Am I intruding by staying?" Jemma questioned of the rider as she walked down the rock passageway, smoothed over millennia of use. The entire weyr was smooth volcanic rock, covered in some places by hanging furs and tapestries.
"I offered, remember? You're not intruding at all," the rider replied and moved into the bedroom, shouting down a shaft for food to be brought up.
"Now the Impression may occur at any time and you must he presentable. The dragonet will know what she is looking for. You must bathe and be put into a white gown," Skye pulled one such gown from a trunk at the foot of the fur covered bed.
"The bathing chamber is just down there," she pointed to a room at the left, hidden by hanging beads. "You should find everything you need in there."
The Hold girl nodded and exited through the beads to bathe. A good while later Skye called down the hallway for the girl, "Lady Jemma, the food has arrived. Shall I bring it to you? Shall I pour you some klah or wine?" she asked.
From the hot pool, Jemma blushed, and quickly finished scrubbing herself clean with a pumice rock. "No, no, I am finished. I shall come out in a moment!" She scurried out quickly, finding a towel to dry herself off with. In haste, she almost slid in the puddle she had created and fell back into the bath. Luckily she managed to regain her footing. She didn't know why the thought of the girl seeing her in the bath disturbed her so much. In the Hold, several servants had helped her bathe before, so she was quite used to it.
Moments later the girl immerged wrapped in a towel, "Please if I am to remain here call me Jemma," she insisted, brushing some of her wet hair behind her ear. She was still trying to hide the flush on her cheeks, but the rider didn't seem to notice. Or she assumed it was because of the hot bath. Either way, Jemma was grateful.
Skye nodded quickly in agreement, sensing her own face start to redden, and turned her face away from the woman out of respect and embarrassment, "Klah or wine, Jemma?" she asked again as the girl striped from the towel and into the white gown.
"Oh, klah please. I still feel chilled from that darkness," Jemma said and smiled coming over to gaze at the fruit and bread a servant had brought up.
Skye poured the green coffee-like substance into a mug for the girl and handed it to her, along with a plate full of food.
Osgilith rested happily on his ledge, snoozing in the sun. Your thoughts are so loud dear one. I cannot rest when all I hear is how attractive this possible mate is, he complained lightly.
It is not as if I can help it, Skye responses tritely, to which Osgilith let out a loud snort of a laugh.
"What was that?!" Jemma chuckled and sat down at the small table, looking over to the large dragon sitting out on the open ledge.
"Osgilith is grumpy when he does not have his afternoon rest," Skye answered, dismissing the beast altogether. There was another grumble from the beast, but she ignored it, turning her attention back to Jemma.
"Anyway, eat up. You'll need to be full and rested and have your wits about you for the Impression. Dragonets can be clumsy, and queens are larger than the others that are hatching and can be more dangerous," Skye warned the girl and sat down to eat as well.
"Dangerous?!" Jemma questioned after swallowing some slices of fruit and cheese on the warm bread, "As small as they are they really can't do so much damage can they?"
"Oh they can, and some do, but mostly because the candidates tend to be scared of the dragons and inexperienced. You will not be this way. I will explain to you so that you will be well prepared," The brunette said, taking up her own bread and cheese, "Sip that klah. It will warm you faster than the food."
The Ruathan girl did as she was told and drank all of the strong smelling liquid and kindly asked for more, and was given it.
"You need to be calm once the queen hatches. She will no doubt be clumsy and will stumble about. You must be quick footed and dodge if she falls towards you, but you must meet her eyes and present yourself to her with confidence, or she will overlook you," Skye instructed and finished off her food and rose from her seat, going to the bedroom and taking off her riding gear. The Impression was a formal even for the people of the Weyr and all would need to look their best for the presentation.
The Hatching could happen soon and she needed to be well dressed, as the other riders would be. She removed the heavy riders gear and replaced it with leather pants and thick hide boots, and a white fleece long sleeve shirt.
The maiden watches... Osgilith pointed out to his rider with interest, not even moving his large wedge shaped head from his resting position in the sunlight.
Skye froze mid change and turned back shyly to see if he spoke the truth, or was just antagonizing her. Sure enough she caught sight of the girl swiftly turning around to finish her food, and Skye's face reddened as she quickly finished changing.
Just in time, for suddenly the entire Weyr shook with a loud vibrating hum which echoed from the throats of all the dragons.
Skye finished tying her shirt up in the front in time to see Osgilith rise swiftly and turn his head towards the two, gazing at them with his many faceted eyes, It is time.
"Go, go!" Skye ushered the dragon from the ledge and he took off, flying down into the Bowl and resting on a ledge deeper in the Weyr over the hatching ground to get a better view of the upcoming events.
The bronze rider grabbed Jemma's hand and jerked her swiftly from the table, "We must get you to the Hot Sands! There is not time to waste now!" She ushered the girl swiftly down many hallways and stairs and finally the two came into the crowded Hatching Ground, the center of all the Weyr.
There, the floor was covered entirely of sand, kept warm by the heat of the volcano. The afternoon sun illuminated some of the Bowl, but fire lanterns and torches were dispatched throughout the inner cavern to keep it lit. All the way up there were stairs and walkways along the edges of the Bowl, leading to other open caverns and some smaller ones, covered by furs, leading to personal weyrs. The entire room vibrated with the hum of dragons perched on these ledges to watch and pay homage to the future.
"Remember what I told you!" Skye instructed and gave Jemma's hand a squeeze as a green rider took the girl onto his dragon and deposited her with the rest of the girls separated from the other eggs, near the golden queen egg down bellow
-Be calm...be calm...be calm...Jemma urged herself, though she fumbled with her hands amidst the other girls.
The other girls were huddled together almost frightened to death of what was to come, but Jemma forced herself to hold her head high. She could not afford to be frightened. Skye had said the hatchling would overlook her if she were afraid.
The group of women watched the young men and boys approach the other eggs as they hatched and after a span of fifteen minutes or so each of the forty-one dragonets had connected and impressed a partner and were now being escorted out of the Hatching Grounds to a place where they could bathe and feed their new weyrmates.
The low hum the dragons emitted once again began to fill the Bowl and the girls turned their attention to the rocking queen egg, as did the rest of the onlookers.
Skye shoved past other riders and weyrfolk to get a better view of the egg, standing just barely on the edge of a ledge, and all the girls leapt back as it burst open, save one.
A stumbling queen fell over her own wings, racing towards the group of girls, mouth open to be fed and claws out to grab what she could, emitting a desperate cry for food. They ran, some being tackled by the silly beast and severely injured, some with mere scratches and some escaping just in time from the stumbling hatchling.
The dragonet continued to stumble and Jemma quickly rushed to make it ahead of the beast which was a good two times her own size already. The small queen moved to run through her like it had the rest when Jemma froze and outstretched her hands and her palms collided with the wedge shaped golden face and the world seemed to freeze with her.
She did it… Skye plunged through the crowd and watched as Jemma made contact with the golden dragonet. The same hum from before began to reverberate through the Weyr and the brunette smiled.
I am here, Jemma, the hatchling gazed up at the auburn haired woman with wide eyes, glowing alight with many different colors all at once.
"You are Aesfeloth," Jemma said, bewildered and confused but in awe of what she had just accomplished all the same. How had she known this queens name? She had not been told what it was, and slowly she retracted her hands from the face of the beast.
Why would you not know me, dear one? We are the same, Aesfeloth responded and crooned, moving her head to reach back for Jemma's touch. Jemma scratched the dragonets eye ridges and the lids slid down one by one over the sparkling eyes in pleasure. We are connected.
She was no longer Jemma of Ruatha of the High Reaches. She was Jemma, WeyrWoman of Ostagar and rider of golden queen Aesfeloth.