Disclaimer: the Dragonriders of Pern is copyright to Anne McCaffrey.
And I would like to appologize for such a short chapter, the next one will contain more.
About half an hour later, after they had both sat down on the base of the massive branch the strange dragon had crashed onto, the young iridescent suddenly snorted-- giving Shri the image of a middle aged woman and her rather impressively colored iridescent approaching. Not too happy about the presence of another male, he snapped at the air as Shri asked if anyone else were coming, and he was quite surly as he also let her know that a team of tree-runners were coming as well.
Hunters and athletes, tree-runners often accompanied iridescents and their partners on less risky missions, and in larger groups-- they could usually deal with less severe threats on their own. Even so, they were not people to take risks, and preferred to be in the company of at least once iridescent when going into the deep forest. They were not stupid after all.
Finally spotting the older iridescent and his partner approaching about a minute later, Shri swallowed nervously as she placed a hand at the neck of the young male. The Bond between them was so new, and she wasn't sure how he might react if he decided that the other male was a threat to them, all she could do was to communicate a sense of calmness to her new friend.
The young male shook his wings and growled unhappily as the older one landed at the branch just a few meters away. But then, to Shri's relief, he averted his gaze and lowered his head in submission as the older male communicated a few sharp comments. But he still muttered unhappily in the back of her mind.
"You are dealing with him as well as you can" the older rider said once she had dismounted, placing a reassuring hand at Shri's shoulder.
"Those young ones, males in particular, will almost always be quite a handful. I would say that yours might have a bit more sense than most though, some have come rather close to actually challenging Windre over there. Just keep doing what you are doing, and you'll be fine".
Shri lowered her head slightly as she smiled, glad for the older rider's approval.
"Is there anything we can help with, senior Gina? My friend here, and his pack, showed me all this. I did what I could for the rider, that wasn't much, and then the younglings removed the eggs they thought might survive from the dragon's body".
Looking over at the eggs and the strange woman, Shri shifted slightly as the tree-runners arrived, one of them riding a large air sled. Due to that the electronics in the hovercraft had a bad habit of attracting mist cats, air sleds were rarely used in the forest, though they did have their uses in situations like this. Neither the iridescents, nor the tree-runners could be expected to carry the loads presented by the offworld dragonrider or the eggs though, so obviously the runners had decided that the risk was an acceptable one.
At least with two iridescents around.
Gina shook her head.
"I believe that everything is being taken care of for now, and I'll have Windre explain a few things about the soon to be home of your friend, if you don't mind. What is his name though?"
"Not at all, thank you. And I believe that the shortened name he liked the best was Suinsst, his full name is..."
Several wrinkles formed on Shri's forehead as she did her best to telepathically communicate Suinsst's name as he saw himself, not that she did it very well though, judging by the way the young male hummed as she communicated a pulse of humor.
Stumbling mind, elegant as stone falling!
Suinsst's eyes glittered as he tossed his head and tail, before turning away to eye the tree-runners with great interest. By now, they had already put the eggs in protective cases and loaded them onto the air sled, while those with medical training were tending to the offworlder. As nothing of real interest to him was happening though, he quickly turned back to Shri again.
Giving the iridescent a sidelong glare, Shri clicked her tongue.
"Insulting me now? Rude creature..."
Pushing his head against her, coming dangerously close to pushing her into Windre, Suinsst chirped happily. Then he dipped a wing and bent his forelegs.
All almost ready, we go. Funny stones for thoughts, want to see your nest.
"Go ahead, I and Windre will be right along. Don't go too far though, the tree-runners will have to go a bit slower now due to the load on the air sled, so I promised that you two would help us keep a look out" Gina said. And Shri had to quickly force back a frown at the senior's badly disguised amusement, as a senior, she had obviously picked up any exchanges between her and Suinsst. Of-course she loved the iridescent, even though they had only bonded today, but the training was harsh for a junior rider-- and she really didn't want to appear incapable of handling it.
It was with a bit of anxiousness that she climbed up on Suinsst's back again though, the young male's mood was a bit too cheerful, and she picked up hints of that he wanted to show off to Windre.
"You behave now" she muttered to him, wishing that she had had a proper harness like Gina and Windre wore, making flight a lot safer. No iridescent would intentionally injure his or her partner of-course, but accidents did happen, especially with young iridescents unaccustomed to their riders and what they could handle.
The reply from Suinsst was little more than a half-formed promise of mangled thoughts and feelings, and then he gently dropped off the branch as soon as she had a proper grip around his neck and tail. With a flick of his feathered wings, he turned in midair and winged forwards-- trying his best to keep up with the air sled. As the machine slowed down however, he nosed it carefully as he glided by, before veering left to check the forest for danger once told to do so by Windre.
