G'ny stepped out into the warming air of the spring season, klah in hand. She and Saleneth had just gotten back earlier that morning after a late night before. It had been their last day on observing a Hatching at Fort, which Wela and Masterharper Soriyen of Benden had also attended given their keen interest in Hatchings. As always, Masterharper Soriyen had kept her up late, at which Ferra insisted the party stay one more day. Ferra's clutch was strong for the times at twenty eggs. However, twenty eggs was hardly enough to keep up Fort's numbers, as a handful of riders had gone between or retired from flying at various times the year before due to told age and and a few more than that the year before. It would hardly be enough to compensate for the losses over the course of the next four years, when Aallarath's past timing demonstrated indicated she might fly again. There had also been one dud that hadn't developed, and Allarath hadn't tended, much beyond the first week - just as the eggs first hinted at their colors within. As those colors started to appear, some had fostered hopes that that very one might have been a queen egg, but the compounding sorrow of that implication kept anyone from entertaining that theory with much certainty.
G'ny shook her head of the memory of the days before, the bright colors flashing upon Fort's Hatching Sands in her mind and turned her eyes skyward to the colors there. Overhead, the multi-colored flashes of the training Weyrlings punctuated the sky. Even the newest queen was out and about, flapping her wings more frequently to keep up with the easy pace of the full grown Azirith. Babreth was a little over a year old and flying strong. G'ny thought it a shame that all three queens were not out together. For a Weyr to have the core of a queen's wing - a leader riding point and two on her flank, would have been an inspiring sight for the Weyr. She cast her thoughts over to the excluded gold. Allika refuses to ride with me. Moura tried to convince her to take me out, but my rider refused. G'ny could imagine the scene, as she was familiar with Allika's tantrums. She thought regretfully that she had been so busy as of late that she had not been able to check in on this gold that had been so welcoming of her before. The drowsy voice of her own dragon suddenly broke in. Go, go with her. She needs it. It would make the Weyr happy. Saleneth encouraged. You are sure? G'ny confirmed. The fireheights are quite cozy right now, came the sleep-muffled reply.
G'ny could hear a soft trill come from the queenriders weyr above her. Since Saleneth was indisposed and Mirith would not be prepped for riding just yet, G'ny took the interior path into the queenrider's quarters. G'ny supposed Allika was stirring up trouble for Lawana or one of the other Lower Cavern women, as she was nowhere to be seen. As G'ny passed through, she couldn't help but notice the state of Allika's chambers. Although it was clear that the Lower Cavern women did their best to attend the goldrider, Allika did not make their jobs easy. Her bed was heaped with some of the most plush sleeping furs, in excess of the standard bedding issued to riders, and it was well known that her bedfellows accounted similarly. G'ny shuddered, trying not to imagine the scenes there, and was at the same time ashamed for her male rider counterparts, although she could hardly fault them, knowing how persuasive Allika could be in that department. Vases of cut flowers were placed on various apertures that had been carved into the walls, giving the room a floral, but musky smell. Allika had also secured for herself one of the Weyr's more opulent tapestries, a large swath of intricately woven cloth depicting a bronze and gold in a mating flight - clearly the act that Allika believed Mirith would soon engage in to cement her privileged status within the Weyr. G'ny passed through the hide curtains to the ledge of the weyr. G'ny suspected Allika did not get out there much, given the stiffness of the hides and the slight puff of dust that emerged as G'ny passed through. The ledge out here lacked the adornments of the chamber within. This was more of the appointment G'ny was accustomed to in a weyr.
Mirith shuddered with excitement as G'ny approached, pawing the ground and shaking her head. G'ny went over to inspect the riding straps that ceremonially hung in this outer chamber. They looked to be in fine order, although G'ny suspected that the handiwork was not Allika's, but rather that of a Weyrling she had pressed into service. G'ny had never seen the woman once touch the riding gear, let alone learn the intricacies of how to assemble them or fit them properly. As she positioned the riding straps along Mirith's back and chest, she noticed that they were hardly a suitable size, and must not have been used for some time. G'ny deftly loosened the ill-fitting straps to accommodate the dragon - farther than she normally would for her much smaller Saleneth. Mirith, meanwhile, was doing her best to contain herself, clearly excited to soon be taking to the skies.
At last, after checking everything with greater attention than she ordinarily did with her trusted straps, G'ny mounted up, settled herself, and signaled to Mirith. With a great leap, Mirith thrust herself skyward off of the low weyr ledge and propelled the pair towards the two golden figures shining across the Bowl. Through Azirith, Moura acknowledged the newcomer's presence and had them take their place just behind her right wing. Moura set a leisurely pace for the benefit of Babreth's still developing wingspan. G'ny noticed that Mirith at first had trouble modulating her pace with the other two, either riding up too close to Azirith's tail, or then falling behind as she reduced her speed. Mirith was not accustomed to riding with other dragons, unlike the many dragons who were taught this fundamental skill through their Weyrling training. Really, the only times G'ny saw Mirith aloft were on her journeys up to the fireheights, or a lap or two she might do on the way to or from them, for a sunny nap, usually coinciding with the same activity by her mistress. Although it was not as strong as with her own dragon, G'ny could feel the joy radiating from the golden beast upon which she was perched.
Moura directed the now trio down the slopes of the High Reaches range. The details of the treetops were much more vivid at this altitude, much lower than the higher up approach that G'ny had learned to take with her green with the rest of the fighting wings. At this height, the tops of the trees stood out in greater detail than she had ever been able to notice them before. In historic times, the queens' wing typically flew much lower to the ground to catch any Thread that might have escaped the vigilance of the fighting wings above, and thus the three queens now honored this low-flying tradition. Once the base flattened out into the plains below, Moura led them on a typical queens' sweep pattern, which G'ny had to concentrate to direct Mirith properly along, given the slight differences from the fighting wing patterns she had learned. Nallene and Babreth seemed to take the patterns with ease. Eventually, Moura signaled for them to circle up.
"Well, that about covers our time out here today. Since we have enough queens assembled for the lead to be properly backed, Nallene and Babreth, I would like you to take the opportunity to take point in leading us back to the Weyr, what do you think?" Moura called. Babreth gave a proud bugle and Nallene nodded with appreciation, her eyes slightly wide. The three shuffled their positions to let the youngest take the lead. Steadfastly, Nallene and Babreth guided the three back up the mountain at an appropriate pace.
The exercise done, the two other golden dragons, one up ahead, the other to her left, descended downward in a neat line to their weyrs. G'ny could see Nallene beaming and Babreth's eyes whirling a fast blue as they winged obliquely away. Instead, Mirith veered away to do another solo lap around the Bowl. Just a moment longer. It is pleasant up here. It will be less pleasant when we land, Mirith warned G'ny cautiously. Had anyone been able to see Mirith's eyes, they would have seen a quick progression of whirling orange, yellow, and back to blue as she tried to savor her last moments aloft. They were unceremoniously greeted as they landed.
"What is my dragon doing up in the sky, up with the likes of you?" Allika shrieked.
"Getting some exercise." G'ny responded calmly. Saleneth, now refreshed from her midmorning nap and aware of the commotion and the threat to her rider, glided down to crouch possessively behind G'ny.
"Are you implying I don't know what's best for my dragon and you think you can just take her? You want to be a queenrider so badly that you resort to stealing my dragon? You're no queenrider, just a lowly queen-thief. When I'm Weyrwoman -" Saleneth snarled quietly behind G'ny, eyes trained on Allika, who they both calculated could lunge at G'ny at any moment. Mirith shifted uncomfortably, apparently trying to make her golden bulk as small as possible.
"That's enough. Mirith does need the training. Her pace-keeping in particular needs some work." Moura stepped in. Moura and Nallene had come to attend the commotion. G'ny could see Nallene's young face torn between the exhilaration of their earlier flight, with the practice at leadership it provided, and concern for the situation at hand. G'ny thought it a shame, whereas the riders of the Weyr should have been heralding a major milestone for their youngest queen, they were instead awkwardly standing by at the narcissism of her senior.
"Needs some work?" Allika blustered. "She is a queen dragon that has no need to follow any other dragon around, especially not in these Threadless times. Such training is pointless, it's beneath her."
"Pointless? Beneath her?" Moura repeated, clearly taken aback. "You need to learn the value of flying with your dragon - and that the value of rank is only as good as it is earned. I don't know what I was thinking for the first years of your training, but you seem to have learned nothing, so tomorrow you will be joining Nallene and Babreth in their mandatory training. G'ny, you and Saleneth are welcome to join us, given the weyrwoman status I have already made clear that you have, although I suspect much will be review for you, and I understand you have other duties to attend. Additionally Allika, I am reassigning you to an upper weyr so that you have greater opportunity to practice your flying with your partner. Your belongings will all be moved there presently, beyond that, nothing - no meals or supplies will be brought up to you. You will have to attain them on your own"
"You can't do that!" Allika protested.
"Actually, as Weyrwoman, I can." Moura's authoritative gaze swept around the Bowl, where a considerable number of the Weyr's dragons had assembled by now. Through Azirith, the message was clear. Glancing over towards the Weyrlings, whose lesson with T'tor had been interrupted by the outburst, she sensed a feeling of relief, as it was obvious that Allika delighted in assigning them to be the latest couriers of her errands. A team of four - a combination of blues and greens - were quickly dispatched to make the irate goldrider's former accommodations less accommodating. Mirith hopped awkwardly out of the way as her fuming rider whirled around, presumably to oversee the dismantling of her weyr.
"I don't get it, why wouldn't she want to fly with her dragon? It's such a wonderful joy of being a dragonrider," Nallene wondered aloud as the three women turned to head into the Kitchen to pick up refreshments before Nallene and Moura were to adjourn to the Records room for Nallene's next lesson. Since the topic was Hatching trends, she was not currently on rotation, and Moura's renewed invitation for her furthered education, G'ny figured she would attend. Although she knew it all by heart, G'ny wondered if another look at the hides, and having the new perspective of Nallene in the room, wouldn't help her discover something that would give her a clue about what was going on with these latest trends that she might have missed. G'ny paused to share in a reassuring moment with her own dragon as the two women progressed ahead of her into the Main Hall and Kitchen beyond. As she followed them, stepping into the shadow cast by the tall sides of the Bowl before entering the Main Hall, a figure reached out to lightly grasp her arm. As her eyes adjusted to the significantly darker conditions, she recognized the figure to be M'tou.
"For what it's worth, we all thought you looked mighty natural up there, in the queen's wing. It was quite the sight to see." M'tou confided in her quietly, glancing around the Bowl at the onlookers who were shuffling back to their interrupted duties.
"Thanks, it is what it is," G'ny shrugged off the vote of confidence. Although she tried not to think about it, G'ny knew that Allika's outburst would only be a taste of what would be to come if Mirith rose before Saleneth, or Babreth for that matter. G'ny cast her thoughts hopefully towards Babeth and Nallene; they were truly shaping up to be a respectable pair, and she wasn't going to dismiss any chance to deter Allika, no matter how unlikely the timing might be.