The Weyrleaders Come

[kestral]

((I sympathise. Tenma; about how old are Galia and L'mis? Any ideas? I was thinking about late 30's-early forties...))

Galia gave her weyrmate a distracted smile as he awknowledged her arrival, and shifted her weight to her other foot.
From what she could see, several of their number were still to come, and that meant that this meeting would not start until then.

With unveiled curiousity, the Weyrwoman's sapphirine optics flickered over her peers; noting the aging Benden Weyrleaders still looked well.
She blinked several times rapidly as she eyed some of the others, and let out a soft sigh.
With a rueful half-grin, she took a step closer to L'mis.
"Do you know who's still to come?" she queried in a soft murmur. "I see the Benden leaders, and the Fort Leaders...and of course, the Darkmoon leaders, but where are the rest? Surely this cant be all."
Even in the moderate lighting; copper gilded her golden hair, which she had pushed impatiently away from her features.

[Spirithawk]

Oldath's burnished bronze form landed in the Weyr Bowl. His rider slipped from his back, frowning as he studied his surroundings. He was annoyed that this little Weyr had insisted that he and the other Weyrleaders of Pern meet. They would have had to meet anyway but the young upstart Sh'iron, once of Benden had requested that they hold the meeting at their Weyr. Dark Moon Weyr. S'kel harumphed. The Weyr was small and not even fully populated.

The eighteen turn old Weyrleader had explained that his Weyrmate was in no condition to fly. He stated that it would be courtesy. The other Weyrleaders had been fooled by the ploy. S'kel knew that the young Weyrleader was trying to make his Weyr look like it was important. If the other Weyrleaders decided it was for the best, young Sh'iron and his Weyrwoman Christae could be removed and a more competent pair put in their place. S'kel hoped to breech that issue with the Weyrleaders. He didn't want this inexperienced pair in charge of such a large plot of valuable land.

S'kel had been disappointed when Dark Moon had not thrown the young Queen's flight open. The Bended transfer had won and the clutch had even included a Queen. There were rumors of mutated colors. S'kel wanted to see this Weyrling Queen and know of the rumors about the new colors were true. S'kel had wanted a couple of his bronzes to have a chance for the Weyrleadership of the new little Weyr, but they hadn't thrown it open. Indeed, the small Weyr had only recently become interested in the other weyrs: S'kel thought it was just because the weyr was afraid of Thread.

Oldath lifted off and flew to the warm fireheights. The dragon was not as young as the reining Queen and Bronze of Dark Moon but he was young enough to accept change, unlike his rider. He knew that his rider resented the youth and flexibility of the Dark Moon leaders. Most of the older dragonriders had either passed on or had transferred to retirement. S'kel resented the fact that the young weyr had so much vigor. His own generation would not last through half of the Pass. Most of them were over forty.

S'kel walked up to the Lower Caverns. He paused at the entrance and looked, sneering at the miniscule size of the Weyr's Dining Cavern. A drudge approached him bearing a platter of refresments and antoher followed with drinks. He waved them off and strode to where he could see Sh'iron and a young pregnant woman wering Queenrider knots. He recognized Christae from when she had been called to meet with the other Weyrleaders to establish a Senior rider to help run the Weyr until her dragon rose to mate. Julee and her dragon had returned to their home at Southern before Kaith's first flight because the young Weyrwoman had been deemed competent enough to lead on her own.

"Good day Weyrleaders." S'kel spoke to all of them. "My Weyrwoman should be here shortly. She is seeing to her Queen Ylyeoth. Tela has been having trouble with the Queen. She has been rather broody lately. We think that she will rise to mate soon." He eyed Sh'iron and his young weyrmate with barely disguised disdain.

[Dragon]

Kadire greeted S'kel, "Good to see you S'kel. I hope everything is going well for you and the weyrwoman at Ista weyr". She gave a smile at him and greeted the other weyrleaders that were there. Perhaps during the meeting things would get interesting. She would just have to wait and see. She went over to R'kem and watched the others.

[Kandarra]

Uslanee walked to where she and her kitchen crew had earlier placed refreshments, dressed in her best, forest-green dress that contrasted nicely with her brown hair. Spotting Christae and the Weyrleaders from Fort, Benden, and Ista-- according to their shoulder knots-- she walked up to them and curtsied.

"Honored weyrleaders," she began, "I am the Headwoman of Dark Moon, Uslanee. I and my crew have provided what we hope is proper refreshment for you all, but should you notice anything lacking, please talk directly to me; I will be hovering around." She smiled at them all, even S'kel, who she knew from the scowl on his face. "Welcome to Dark Moon. Should any of you wish to stay longer than just the day and wish for lodging, we have cleared our best rooms to accomodate you." Uslanee curtsied once more, and went to stand next to Christae.

"How's the baby?" she whispered to her weyrwoman. "Are you feeling well enough to stand? I have plenty of teas and other things to help."

((Sorry about my late arrival and my absence, guys, my comp has spawned a virus and it's been difficult to get to a computer for longer than ten minutes. I'll do my best to participate.))

[nike]

((I really should post here more. -sighs-))

Sh'iron looked up and nodded as each Weyrleader entered. He greeted Br'tan warmly and made sure that he was next to his Weyrwoman.
His eyes soon dartered over to see the Istan Weyrleader enter. The man had an air that told trouble. But Sh'iron made no move to be rude, yet.
He put on a smile and stuck out his hand.

"Thank you for coming S'kel. And it is fine that your Weyrwoman if late. As you can see, many of us are." Sh'iron said. He was very proud to say the word, 'us.' For that ment he was a Weyrleader of Pern. Pride filled his heart,
and then he looked over the crowd.
Myranenth, tell Kia and Nike that I want them both to come in at the same time. I'll give you the singal to give to them.
The bronze nodded and did so.
Sh'iron sighed, then put a smile on his face, waiting for the other Weyrleaders.

------------------------------

Falnor smiled warmly to her mate.
"I'm glad you got here." She said with a smiled, and put her amr in his own.
"You came in time too. S'kel's here. I have a feeling this will be a very exciting meeting." She added in an undertone.
Leading her weyrmate over to the Istan Weyrleader she, barely put on a kind smile.
"Well, hello S'kel. Haven't seen you in awhile. How have you and Tela been?" She said with a totally fake smile. The Istan knew that she wasn't fond of him, so why try to act so?

-------------------------------------

Nike turned around to see Kia come running up to her.
"Your not late Kia. But try not to run me over the next time you are in a hurry. Oh and Myranenth just told me that when he gives us the message, we are both suppose to enter the caverens at the same time."
She said with a smile then went back to looking at the dragons.
"This is so exciting, isn't it?"

[Tenma]

((Same with my computer. It is quite messed up.))
L'mis looked around as he listened to Galia's comment. "I am not sure. Some may not be able to make it, while others may not want to come to Dark Moon Weyr. I am amazed that S'kel even came. That man is like a clone of the oldtimers." The man sighed knowing that S'kel hated change and that that weyrleader would probably make things difficult.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reinath held her head up high, trying to seem impressive to all of the weyrleaders and weyrwoman.
Miya looked over to the young queen and scratched her golden eyesr ridges. ~Are you ready?~ She asked curiously.
More then you are. The queen snorted at the nervous Miya.
There were just so many important people. It was much different then being with the other weyrlings were she felt like she could have pride and dignity, along with importance and act like nobility.

[Spirithawk]

Christae gave a welcoming smile to S'kel and the others. "It is a pleasure to welcome you all to Dark Moon Weyr. It is our hope that we will be able to work together to defend our beloved home against the fiend that threatens us. Some of our number are still missing but it is our hope that they will join us soon." Christae spoke with the "we" of the combined Weyrleadership of her and Sh'iron. The young Weyrwoman pretended to be unaware of the attitude S'kel was exuding.

She leaned closer to Uslanee. "I will be fine." She whispered. "Don't worry about me." She smiled. "Your people are doing fine mother wherry." She told Uslanee and then turned back to the Weyrleaders.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

S'kel turned to Kadire. "Ista is well. We are prospering. I hope it is the same for your weyr Kadire." The Istan gave Falnor and her weyrmate a smile that was almost a sneer. "Tela and I have been busy. We have more important things to do than deal with rifraff." S'kel didn't elaborate on who the rifraff was but it was not hard to guess who he was implying.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A pale gold winked from /between/ giving her name and rider's name to the watchdragon. The gold was a good-sized Queen but she was not even close to Dark Moon's Sr. Queen. Ylyeoth landed and allowed her rider to slip from her back. Tela nodded to her Queen and strode off briskly towards the Lower Caverns. She was not in a good mood. Her queen had been temperemental for the past few days and Tela knew what that meant. The Queen would fly soon and Tela was not looking forward to it. She was not as young as she once was and the novelty of flights had worn off, especailly since Ylyeoth would not allow any other bronze but Oldath to fly her.

S'kel could be rather annoying at times but for the most part he was a good Weyrleader. He was stuffy and conventional but Tela shared most of the same views. She did not like the fact that new weyrs were popping up everywhere and expecting to be recognized in the same manner as the Weyrs who had been there since the birth of dragonkind. Tela walked into the Lower Caverns and went to stand next to her weyrmate.

"Greetings." She said curtly, almost with rudeness. She knew that Falnor, the Benden Weyrwoman did not approve of them but neither did Tela care for the Benden Weyrwoman. Benden was not one of the oldest weyrs, nor was it the biggest so Tela did not see why the Benden riders acted so high and mighty.

Tela noted the very pregnant woman standing next to Sh'iron. She remembered that the youngest Weyrleader was once from Benden. Apparently both Weyrleaders got along with each other. She hadn't known that the Dark Moon Weyrwoman was heavy with child. Her frosty demeanor thawed a bit. She remembered how hard it was to take care of Weyr business with a gravid body. She remembered that Sh'iron and mentioned that his mate was unable to fly but he hadn't told the Istans why. She was certain that the other weyrleaders were aware of that fact but she resented that the news had not reached her.

[Dragon]

"That's good to hear. Yes our weyr is doing well", she said to him. "Tela, good to see you. Glad you could make it", Kadire said to the weyrwoman of Ista. She seemed to give off the same attitude of her weyrmate, S'kel. She didn't like the attitude these two were putting off, she was certain they would stir trouble. She gave a smirk. "We might want to keep an eye on those two", she whispered to her weyrmate and looking in the direction of the Istan weyrleaders.

[kestral]

At the arrival of one half of the Istan weyrleaders, Galia was momentarily distracted. There was one part of the answer to her query.
With stiff politeness, she inclined her head to S'kel, and glanced towards his bronze courteously. The Southern Weyrwoman was not overly fond of him, but tolerated the man easier than many of her peers.
Oh, it wasn't that she liked him. But she could put up with him with relative grace.
Some people said that she could put up with anyone and anything, but they had never seen her angered. Seeing his Weyrwoman arrive too, her tense shoulders relaxed slightly.

There was the other half of that pair...now they were only missing 4 of their numbers?
At L'mis' reply, she smiled slightly, with a cynical look in her sapphirine optics.
"I do hope that they make it. It's...the Telgar Weyrleaders, and the Igen Weyrleaders who are missing? If they do not arrive soon, I wondering the Darkmoon Weyrleaders shall start without them."
A faint sigh escaped her.
Patience was not, contrary to some beliefs, not her most notable characteristic, and she was intrigued to find out which rumors -some of which included mutant dragon hues- were true.
"You're right there. The old...er...fellow is not too open, is he? Tela, competant as I'm sure she is, is generally not too muc better..." These words were a whisper, that only her weyrmate, standing directly behind her, could hear.
A ghost of a grimace crossed her delicate features, and vanished.

[Spirithawk]

Christae pretended not to hear the Weyrleaders whispering about the Istans. She hoped that things would run without a hitch during the meeting.

"I hope that our Telgar and Igen counterparts will arrive shortly. I do believe that we are missing the High Reaches Weyrleaders as well. We will not be able to begin until they are here or send word that they cannot make it."

Christae turned away as a spasm of pain rippled across her abdomen. She made her abrupt turn look as if she was calling a drudge to bring refreshments. She calmed her breathing and then returned her attention to the other weyrleaders.

Beloved are you alright?

~Yes, I am fine. It was just a moment of pain. Don't worry about it. Just enjoy your conversation with the other dragons. Is everything ok there?~

Yes. We are all getting along, at least those of us who are speaking.

[Miki]

Br'tan smiled at his Weyrwoman.
His smile quickly turned to a frown when he noted S'kel's arrival.
Despite his old age, Br'tan still was, in some ways, like a younger rider.
He allowed change, was fairly active, and often cracked jokes.
He was a pretty good person to be around.
"Falnor, you know I despi-" he stopped and his frown was now a small smile.
Infront of S'kel now, he put on a show, almost.
"Ah, S'kel, so nice to have you here," he lied.
Yes, in that way he was like a younger rider, not liking S'kel.

---

Kia let out a clear sigh of relief.
"Same time, huh... oh, and sorry. I guess he wants it to look nice.
Kylath came up to Kia and complained.
[shadow=red,left,300]I still itch[/shadow]Now Kia did something rash without thinking of what it might cause though she hoped to be out and back right away.
She and Kylath ran to her barracks and oiled the Copper.

[nike]

Sh'iron smiled slightly when S'kel's Weyrwoman came.
"Welcome to Dark Moon Weyr, Tela. we may have to wait awhile for the rest of the Weyrleaders haven't come yet." He said with a nice little smile.
Looking over the Lower Caverens, he was proud of his Weyr.
They transformed a small, lowly Weyr into mabey a major one. And he hoped that Dark Moon's copper and white would help with that.

Sh'iron turned back to Christae just in time to see the spasm go across her stomach. "Christae, don't lie to me, are you alright?" He asked, putting a worried hand on her shoulder.
Myranenth be ready to call the Healers if need be. That includes Nike, and our new ones. He told his dragon. The bronze nodded.

--------------------------

Falnor gave S'kel another one of her smiles. "Ah, but you must remember that Thread is coming, and we needed to have a Weyrleader meeting sooner or later. So why not in one of our newest Weyrs?" Turning to see Tela, a small sneer wa son her face, but gone in a second. "Well I'm glad you made it Tela. We thought that you wouldn't because of your queen."
One thing Falnor loved to do, was to be rude to the Lord Holders, Craft Masters and Weyrleaders who don't agree with her and the others, and they could do nothing about it.

-------------------------------

Nike smiled at Kia, then turned back to the dragons.
It looks like the Istan Weyrleaders are here. She told Ruanth.
From her days as a messanger with Tirith, Nike knew a lot about the other Weyrs, Holds, and Halls. and when she met the Istans, she wasn't too fond of them.
Then the thought hit her.
Ruth was more of a sport dragon since Jaxmon was Lord Holder. They faught Thread, but their first duty was not to fight Thread. It was to Ruatha.
Would that be the same with her and Ruanth?
She would be a Master Healer to the Weyr, and her seond duty was as a dragon rider?
This was something she knew would take awhile to know. Not until Ruanth could fly.

[Spirithawk]

"Shall I have Kaith bespeak the missing rider's dragons?" She suggested. "Perhaps we can know how long we will have to wait for their arrival and act accoringly. Perhaps if we have time we can show you one of the projects a few of our riders have been working on. Sh'iron, remember when I told you that Rhia and a few of the other female riders were working on a project while they couldn't fly? Well I do believe they are almost done. We could entertain our guests until the rest of our number arrive."

Christae looked at her weyrmate and saw the concern in his eyes. She rested a long-fingered hand on his arm and reached over to kiss his cheek. "I will be fine. It was just a spasm of pain. I get them every once in a while." She kept her voice low. Christae did not tell him that they had become more frequent. She did not want to worry him during this meeting. He had more important things to worry about than a few moments of pain. She had been careful to reassure Kaith so that the gold would not dwell on the fact.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tela raised an eyebrow when the young woman mentioned having her gold bespeak the missing dragons. "Why not have one of our dragons? Must it be yours? After all, we have senority."

S'kel nodded. "Yes, why not have the Queen of a major Weyr bespeak the rest of the major weyrs." S'kel's slur on the major weyr part was obvious.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Christae smiled sweetly, pretending to be oblivious to the insult. "But my dear Tela, we wouldn't want to bother Ylyeoth. Kaith would be happy to bespeak the other dragons so as not to disturb your Queen."

~Love. Please bespeak the dragons of the Telgar, High Reaches and Igen Weyrs. Request to relay a message to their rider and ask if their riders will be attending the Weyrleaders' meeting at Dark Moon Weyr and see if they need coordinates.~

Is that all?

~Yes~

Very well then. You should have let Tela disturb her Queen. Ylyeoth is quite broody at the moment.

~I know.~

"There. That is taken care of and we should be receiving Kaith's reply at any moment."

Christae bit her lip as a smaller spasm of pain hit her. She made sure that no one saw her as she released her bottom lip. She was determined to last through this meeting. She would not have Sh'iron team up with Nike to send her to bed.

(As you can see....im up to something with Christae.....dont know how im gonna go about it yet but im plotting *grins evily*)

[Miki]

ooc|| Shall I be Weyrwoman of the High Reaches? You know, so more of the people have arrived...

[Dragon]

Kadire looked with disgust at the weyrleader's comment. She felt every weyr was equally important. All had the same purpose of fighting thread. No one weyr should be put over another. She almost wanted speak out against the arrogance of the Istan weyrleaders.

[Spirithawk]

((That would be fine i was hoping that others would step forward but it doesn't seem that way...go ahead and claim the one you want....but i dont want you guys taking more than two weyrleaders especially if you have more than one character to rp *cough cough Nike* *cough cough kia cough cough* lol))

[Tenma]

((I would offer to take another but I have Miya as well, and I have never been more then two characters. Though come next hatching I will briing in a male candidate.))

[Miki]

ooc|| Very subtle, spirithawk. I'll go post on that board.

[Miki]

A large Gold, though not quite as big as Kaith, circled into the Weyr Bowl of a small Weyr the rider cared very little of. She was just like the Queen, arrogant. Isith swooped down lower. Her legs slowly flattened on the ground until she was standing firmly. Her wings stopped flapping and her rider jumped off the dragon's side.

Hathea leaped from her large Gold. Her strawbeery blonde hair flowed gently when she relieved herself of her helmet. Her face was a pale but nice and her lips were full. Hathea was regarded as simply beautiful and she used that to her advantage. She never had the same Weyrmate but her current was D'nyr and his dragon, Hatath.

Isith looked down at her Mine. I will be going now. ~Fine, go.~ The dragon left without another word. Hathea went her own way- to the Lower Caverns.

Hathea's entrance was rather extravagant. She burst through with a gleaming smile and loudly said, "Hello, everyone!" Certainly everyone heard. Her green eyes shined brightly.

[Tenma]

Miya looked at Hathea as the woman burst through. ~I can tell know that I hate this one.~ Miya grumbled to her queen.
I agree. I already want her to leave. Reinath responded with a quiet growl.