Safe Topics for Goldriders

Writers: Miriah, Yvonne
Date Posted: 29th July 2017

Characters: Alina, Lanniya
Description: Imarith's infatuation with Anaeryth means that Alina and Lanniya have to find something to talk about.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 12, day 27 of Turn 8

Alina

Lanniya

}:Oooooh, Anaeryth comes!:{ Imarith looked up, her eyes whirling blue with delight as the gold dragon circled the weyrlake. }:Perhaps she will land beside me! She is so shiny and her wings are so large. I like Anaeryth very much!:{

The green's rider brushed her wet hair back from her face and squinted up at the sky. **Maybe. Don't bother her though, all right?**

}:Why would I bother her? I like her. Ooooh! She's landing right here!:{ Imarith wriggled with delight, knocking her rider with a bump of her wing. }:Hello Anaeryth!:{

Alina wobbled, then to her horror fell over backward in the thigh-deep water. **Imarith!**

A soft, delighted laugh erupted from the other side of Anaeryth after she landed. Lanniya slid down her dragon and hurried over to the water. **Imarith, you really should be more careful.** The laughing voice lightly chided the green as Lanniya looked down at Alina. "Hi...need a hand?" She offered hers. "Looks like Imarith got a little excited."

Alina scrambled upright and bent to retrieve the brush she'd dropped onto the pebbly bottom. "She does that." She looked up and was horrified to see that it was Anaeryth's rider who'd addressed her. She'd seen Lanniya before, but usually at a distance or when the goldrider was bundled up for drills. Up close, she was taller than Alina had expected, and she looked much younger. "Um. Goldrider."

"Pfhh.." Lanniya made the breathy disclaimer. "It's just Lanniya." She waved her hand. "You don't have to be all formal." She offered a smile. "What's your name? I've seen you before but I don't think we've ever talked before."

"Greenrider Alina. And Imarith." Alina nodded to her green, who was currently cavorting in the shallow water to try and hold Anaeryth's attention. **Stop acting silly!**

}:You are so beautiful, Anaeryth!:{ Imarith crooned, ignoring her rider. }:You are so shiny!:{

Anaeryth looked with amusement at the scampering little green. }: I know. :{ She tilted her head and lowered it to look more closely at Imarith. She didn't often associated with greens, but the smaller dragon's playfulness drew the younger gold. Tilting her head, she moved her leg just enough to splash at Imarith.

"Nice to meet you." She turned to watch the dragon's with Alina, then laughed. "Okay, that's just really cute. If she keeps up that flattery, Anaeryth might want to keep her."

Delighted, Imarith knelt in the water and sent sprays of droplets up into the air by fluttering her wings. Alina frowned at her. "If Anaeryth wants her, that's fine by me."

**You look ridiculous,** the greenrider told her dragon privately.

}:Anaeryth might play with me!:{ Imarith said excitedly. }:I am the best at playing!:{

That made Lanniya tilt back her head and laugh again. "She's sweet, but I think Anaeryth might eventually want her bronzes again." She watched as Anaeryth swept her tail in the water, sending a large wave towards them and the green dragon. Lanniya only had time to mutter an "uh oh" before all of them were drenched completely.

Sputtering, Lanniya wiped water off of her face and looked down at her soaked skirt. "Well, there goes that dress."

"Imarith!" Alina wiped water from her face and scowled at her dragon. **Stop that!**

}:But I'm playing...:{ The green's wings drooped as she turned back toward her rider. }:Anaeryth is too shiny...:{

"I'm so sorry, I really am..." Alina turned to Lanniya apologetically. "Your poor dress..."

"Oh, don't blame her, it was Anaeryth. And it's only a dress." Lanniya was quick to interject. "It's really okay and I don't mind Imarith playing with Anaeryth. We need more joy these days and I don't get to see Anaeryth play much anymore."

}: It's alright, Imarith. :{ Anaeryth spoke, nudging the little green with her muzzle. }: I _am_ rather shiny. You may swim with me, if you like. :{

}:I would! I would! I am a great swimmer. You are the best though!:{ Imarith launched herself into deeper water with a splash.

Alina sighed at her dragon, then turned to Lanniya. "I suppose... with Anaeryth hatched at River Bluff Weyr, that must have been very difficult for you." As soon as she asked it, it felt like a very impertinent question. Only it was hard to keep the rules of etiquette in mind when Lanniya was obviously younger than herself. "Goldrider," she added quickly.

At the mention of River Bluff, Lanniya's cheerful expression faltered. "It was." She forced her smile back into place. "Please, just call me Lanniya. I get 'Goldrider' all the time and it gets a bit old after a while. And it's not just what happened there with Anaeryth. She lost her silly really quickly. Sometimes I wish she still had it."

"Don't wish too hard." Alina watched her dragon submerge herself and try to flap her wings. "She can be a real pain in Threadfall. She gets distracted, mostly during the shift switch half way through."

Lanniya tilted her head as she watched the pair. Anaeryth was in no way as active as Imarith, but she was still amused by the smaller dragon's fluttering. "What distracts her?"

"Oh, anything. Clouds, wind, flying, other dragons. Thread."

"Hmm...a lot of greens I've talked to are kinda the same. Maybe you can talk to an older greenrider and get some advice." Lanniya blew a wet strand of hair from her face. "That's what I do when I have questions about Anaeryth."

"I'd suspect that queen dragons are more complicated to ride than greens." Alina let herself admire Anaeryth's golden hide and perfectly arched neck, and felt a brief pang of envy. Gold dragons opened so many more doors than a green. A gold dragon meant that you _mattered_.

With a wrinkled nose, Lanniya shook her head. "Not really. It's the politics and the constant etiquette that's more complicated. Queens are pretty steady, actually. Demanding, but steady. " She leaned over to speak in a whisper. "I _hate_ all of the etiquette stuff. It's boring and you have to be on your guard all the time about what you say and how you say it. I think riding a green is much more complicated. I mean, you have to make sure they don't get tired and stay focused, plus you're so much more active during Threadfall. I mean, greens are able to all the fancy flips and dives and stuff. You have to be a much better rider to be able to handle all that. I was on a green once that did that, and I nearly got sick over the side." She grinned at Alina. "I admire greenriders. They do a lot of stuff that I can't."

**Is she trying to butter me up!?** The greenrider in question gave Lanniya a sideways look, unsure what the goldrider's intent was. "You shouldn't. Fancy flying isn't that big a deal. And we're pretty common."

"Why not?" Lanniya looked genuinely surprised. "Anaeryth can't do it. She'd hurt herself. She's too big. Besides, every wingleader I've ever talked to _wants_ more greenriders in their wing. I mean, bronzes and browns, they're great. But they can't do all the stuff that greens and blues can.They're just too bulky. Without the greens and blues flying around and getting thread that they can't move fast enough to get, there'd be a whole lot more injuries. So it _is_ kind of a big deal." Her brow furrowed and she tilted her head to the side, looking at Alina. "Didn't your weyrlingmasters tell you that?"

"Of course they did." Alina frowned, a bit stung. "That's not what I meant. I just meant to say that there are a lot of greenriders. I-- I guess riding Anaeryth is a pretty smooth ride, then?" It was an awkward change in topic, but she didn't want to talk about admiring greenriders anymore. It was like saying you admired a tree. They were just _there_.

Accepting the change in topic, Lanniya nodded. "Sure she is. Except during a take off, then it's bumpy, but once she hits a thermal, she glides as much as she can."

"What's the furthest you've flown?"

**/Between/ times and back.** Of course, she couldn't say that, but it brought the memory of that journey back. "You know, I really can't say the furthest I've flown. I mean, most of the time I get to /between/ somewhere, but when I have to visit my parents I have to fly along the trade caravan routes to find them. So she can fly a good while without resting, especially if she stays on thermals."

Alina had forgotten that Lanniya was from a Trader family. Travelling in wagons had seemed like such an exotic way to live, and the days that the Traders had shown up at her small cothold had been some of the most exciting. They were so _different_. "Was your family happy that you Impressed?" the greenrider asked curiously. "I mean- if that's not too personal a question..."

"It's not." Lanniya's smile remained. "Not at all. My grandparents were really worried, but it kinda of fit, with me being able to hear them. Everyone thought I was crazy, you know." She shrugged. "They were worried when I was Searched, but they were really proud when I Impressed." Her head tilted. "What about yours?"

Alina hesitated. Out in the lake, Imarith snorted a spray of droplets skyward where they caught the sun in a rainbow array. "It... depends on who you ask," she said hesitantly. It was over a Turn ago, but her family's reaction still felt raw. "My parents... gave me up, in a lot of ways, when I was Searched. So they were happy enough when I Impressed. But having a greenrider in the family is problematic, too."

"My grandparents did too in a way. I wasn't the same afterwards, of course and I didn't live with them anymore. Maybe it's because they're scared for us. I mean, I'm guessing you're not from the Weyr, so it's not like they can see you everyday or know what its like or even know right away if you've been hurt." She paused for thought. "I can see why. It's a total different lifestyle. Faranth knows that my grandfather worried about that. My dad still does, even now." She flashed a wicked little grin. "But we can't help flights. And you don't have to do all that outside of them, if you don't want to."

Weyrbred folk simply didn't get it. Neither did Traders, apparently. Alina suppressed sighed. "It's not quite so simple as that. But yes."

"Then what do you think it is?"

"Complicated." The greenrider did sigh then. It was exhausting to have to defend her experience all the time. "But family always is."

"Good point. It is." Lanniya agreed. "I guess no one can really understand your family except for you." She paused. "Do you like gardens?"

Gardens were a safe topic of conversation with a goldrider. "Very much! We didn't have gardens like here at Nadol Cothold... it wasn't practical. We had a few flower beds but it wasn't the same thing. I used to spend a lot of time in the gardens when I was a Candidate..."

Last updated on the August 23rd 2017

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