True Colours (CL2: Armind, Kyrstin)

[Ember]

Dy'shi had more or less been roped into volunteering by Chakraith but he wasn't exactly regretting it. He'd had little to no contact with Miss Elisabeta, as he called her. She was a very frightening woman and he was oh so glad it was Farryl who had done the asking around. He did feel a little awkward knowing he was probably younger than several of the candidates present. He was only sixteen as of that day actually. He had the distinct impression that X'rx or Erilena might celebrate his birthday with him later but for the time being he got to do something he loved a lot: showing off Chakraith.

He leaned agaisnt Chakraith's leg in what he hoped was a nonchalant pose as he waited for his assigned candidates to join him. Sheya was rather pleased that he'd been given two boys. Dy'shi kind of wondered whether they'd bother to join him or just slip away. He didn't exactly inspire a lot of confidence as a dragonrider. The green firelizard curled delicately around his neck informed him that he was doing it again and he purposely stopped thinking for a moment. There, calm once again...largely thanks to the aura the Chakraith seemed to exude without even saying anything.

Dy'shi wasn't entirely sure what to have the candidates do, exactly. He could certainly have them bathe her like Mi'rah was doing with Kierjaarth but that seemed like a stolen idea. Oiling, sharpening her claws, bringing them on a flight, watching her eat...Well, he'd just ask them what they'd rather do when they came. They may end up too intrigued by the fac that Chak was a female blue to mind whatever they did anyways. The blue leaned down and briefly touched his head with her snout and he smiled. Couldn't be too bad, right?

[Rowana]

They told him he had to go to lessons. It was the last thing Kyrstin wanted to do when he arrived in the South. He'd just finished seven years of Healer training and he was not interested in more lessons, thank you very much. Still he had agree, however reluctantly, to come here. Candidacy didn't interest him so much as the prospect of being even farther from his hated home than he could possibly be. If he Impressed a dragon as well, it was just another way to prove to himself how much better he was than his estranged father and brother.

When he'd arrived, however, he'd found much to irk him. Not only was the infirmary run by a woman, but nearly all the other Healers were as well! Now, he'd seen girl apprentices at the Hall. He'd even worked with them when he absolutely had too. But working under one? That was asking a lot of a guy! Now he had to take even more lessons if he wanted to keep up with the idea of being a Candidate and once more a woman was in charge! Kyrstin had half a mind to demand to leave right then. The nerve of them putting all these inferior woman in charge of some of the most vital parts of the Weyr! If he were in charge, woman would be put in their proper place.

Lurking in the back of the class, arms crossed and a look of scorn on his face, Kyrstin listened to Elisabeta's speech. Loose their virginity? Was she some kind of tyrant? He couldn't think of a worse thing to ask them. What if all the girls got pregnant? What would the great Candidate Master do then? Besides, how was she going to in force this rule? Watch them or participate in person? He didn't know whether to find that idea amusing or disturbing. Well, Kyrstin at least wouldn't have to worry about it. He was no naive, little boy and Healer's Hall wasn't all full of saints. He wouldn't say he'd necessarily done it with a girl, since he really didn't fancy the idea of fathering children, but he was sure it amounted to much the same thing.

Finally they were moving on to something interested. Anatomy was of especial interest to Kyrstin and he was even more pleased to hear his name listed next to a male rider's. If they'd paired him with one of those silly greenriders, he would have left. No matter what anyone thought, he was not impressing a female dragon. The idea of having a woman in his head for the rest of his life was almost nauseating. Stalking over to Dy'shi, however, he was disappointed to see they expected him to learn from someone younger than he was. Were they allowed to Impress as young as this kid must have been? People in the South really were as soft as rumors claimed.

"Well, then," Kyrstin began, his tone impatient and unimpressed. Maybe he should have been, being this close to a dragon for only the second time. But he wasn't big on showing much emotion. Only silly people got over excited over things like this. Dragons existed. It was fact. Why make such a big deal over them? "What exactly are we going to learn today? The basic anatomy looks fairly obvious. Or are you going to tell us how the bone structure supports such a large body in flight?"

[Ember]

Dy'shi tried not to let it bother him that the other one assigned to him clearly wasn't coming. When Kyrstin, clearly older and...well, not too bad looking either if not for the hard, cold look in his eyes. The bluerider was surprisingly intelligent and perceptive too. Just as he knew X'rx saw him as nothing more than a little brother, he knew that this candidate probably didn't see him as worth his time. The boy blinked runner brown eyes when Kyrstin started talking and his suspicion was confirmed. Yup, not impressed. Not like he'd expected him to be.

Dy'shi tilted his head down slightly sheepishly. "Well, I'm no Healer, I don't know things like that but...we at least have a miniature version of a dragon so we don't have to go clambering all over Chakraith. Not that she'd mind much, I think," he babbled on, disturbed at having been so put on the spot. The dragon behind him dipped her head down to the humans' level and took over in her clear, feminine tones. Mine's firelizard would make an adequate example of dragon anatomy. I believe his original suggestions for something to do were as follows: oiling, claw sharpening, flying, or feeding.

Pausing, the female blue allowed Kyrstin to digest all that. If that does not meet your fancy, you are welcome to suggest something else...or inform Rakmaninoth's that you do not wish to participate. Despite her words, Chakraith's tone clearly indicated that it was not a threat, that she wouldn't tattle to the green or her rider. She withdrew her head when Dy'shi finally got his bearings again and he smiled tentatively. "While you think about what you may want to do, you're welcome to look over Sheya and ask any questions about anatomy."

The green firelizard in question extracted herself from around Dy's neck and flew up to Kyrstin's shoulder. She chirped a cheerful greeting and began to crawl her way down his arm carefully. "Ah, of course, there's a couple minor differences between firelizards and dragons but not too many. Both can't handle fellis, have three eyelids, have ichor instead of blood..." Dy trailed off.

[Rowana]

Kyrstin's initial, but expected, disappointment at the boy's lack of knowledge was completely overshadowed by his shock at what happened next. No sooner had he thought he might correct Dy'shi on calling his dragon "she" than the dragon in question invaded his mind. He didn't know what was worse, the fact that some alien and unwelcome voice was inside his head, or the fact that it was female! What kind of abomination was this! Kyrstin back away a few steps, trying very, very hard not to loose his cool.

It was a long time before he trusted himself to speak. He would admit he didn't know a lot about dragons, but he did know that blue ones were supposed to be male. "It's a girl," Kyrstin said, when he finally trusted himself to speak. "A blue girl." That was about the time the fire lizard landed on his shoulder. Most of what Chakraith and Dy'shi had been saying had been ignore, given the turmoil in his mind. So when Sheya landed on his shoulder he nearly jumped and ran for the door. He gave the smaller creature a glare, as if to blame her for all the trouble.

"I see..." he managed slowly. What kind of horrible placed had he landed himself now?! He would have been better off at Fort or even Benden at this rate!

[Ember]

Dy'shi caught Kyrstin's reaction and was immediately annoyed. Oh sure, he'd expected as much but that didn't make the boy any bit happier. He knew Chakraith didn't care about others' opinions and so he shouldn't either but...but he still perceived an insult to the most precious thing in the world to him. It was not something he could tolerate. Dy'shi's anger was a rare thing to manifest. He was often too forgiving, too innocent to be bothered by much. That someone he hadn't even yet passed judgement on had just earned it was rarer still.

"It happens to be my dragon and intelligent enough to understand you. Her name is Chakraith, and you better get used to using it," he snapped at the candidate, eyes narrowing jsut slightly as he caught Sheya's mild distress. Make that bothering two of his most precious people. Well, draconids really but...With his anger calming quickly since he'd expelled it he let out a slight sigh and offered, "Or if you don't want to talk to her you can direct everything to me. I'm sure Elisabeta must have covered it at some point but dragons are not animals. And their riders happen to be rather protective of them a lot of the time."

Dy'shi couldn't quite manage a smile so he settled for continuing onwards. Perhaps if they just got past the awkward bits..."If you're curious, almost all blues are indeed male. I'm sure you've heard about Millieth's clutches? They tend to have some..." He was forced to paused, searching out an approriate term. He settled for, "Differences. Chakraith is possibly the only female blue in the world." Not everyone could say their dragon was the only one of its type in the whole world, now could they?

[Rowana]

Kyrstin was a little taken aback. So these Southern boys had some bite after all! That was good. He hated to think they were all pushovers taking orders from women, as it certainly seemed so far. Of course, only riders knew how much influence dragons had over them. Maybe this Chakraith was in charge in the end. Either way, Dy'shi certainly seemed angry, which was surprising in itself. To look at him, Kyrstin wouldn't have thought the boy had the guts. Still, if what Dy'shi said was true, Kyrstin had just insulted him. Not that he would apologize. He rarely apologized, unless he thought it absolutely necessary. In his experience, it just showed someone he was willing to be pushed around.

"Very well," Kyrstin said finally. If Dy'shi was trying to make him feel impressed by the odd dragon, it wasn't working. If anything, it just made him feel it was even more of a mistake of nature. He wouldn't say anything more about it, however. To run now, would be to admit to his fear and dislike of the creature. The faster this lesson was over with, the better. He couldn't help but feel that the Candidate Master was doing this to him on purpose to test his resolve.

"Perhaps you and your..." he eyed the blue female with a mixture of distaste and suspicion. "...Chakraith, would tell me more of the oddities of Millieth's clutches?" True, it was more than a bit off topic, but he didn't think it was irrelevant. Millieth was the Senior Queen of this Weyr and her eggs were likely the ones he would be Standing for. Surly mutations that could result in something as unnatural as this fell under the loose lesson Elisabeta had laid out for them. "How did this begin?"

[Ember]

Dy'shi let out an exasperated sigh at Kyrstin's not-apology. Fine. Just...fine. Still, he found himself ruffling his hair in the back of his head, a sign of both discomfort and, apparently, annoyance. The look the older boy directed at his dragon wasn't overlooked and didn't much help the candidate's case. Dy'shi normally didn't care but he was technically of a higher rank than Kyrstin and should be treated with some level of respect. Why did age have to be so damn important to everyone?

The teen blinked at the slightly odd request to explain more about Millieth's clutches. Well, not that it didn't apply to the candidate himself since he'd possibly be impressing from one of the queen's clutches..."Well, Millieth was originally from Benden. For a while there they used to drug their queens and it ended up causing oddities in the dragons that hatched," Dy'shi began explaining, frowning faintly at the effort of recalling information he'd heard only a couple times and cared little about ultimately.

"Feyrianth has two sets of wings, Eveyth has longer canines. Both are from the same clutch as Chakraith is. The current Weyrlings are also from Millieth. Nitrath, the gold, has some oddities herself. That class is especially small because the ones that were deemed too mutated were murdered." The boy had to actively pull on Chakraith mentally to let some of her calmness seep back into him. The blue was far from unfeeling but she bestowed a sense of balance to him when he was upset, no matter how upset she might also be. Sheya sneakily flashed an image of an upset Dy'shi into Kyrstin's mind. Didn't he look cute upset? Worth comforting, no?

[Rowana]

Kyrstin listened with thoughtful curiosity. Dy'shi didn't seem to know all there was to it, but he was at least answering the question. So Millieth had been drugged? That certainly explained such mutations. It was also yet one more reason why his homeland of Benden was full of fools. Not that Fort was much better, by his reckoning. He was still waiting to decide if Selenitas would live up to his standards, and so far it did not look good. The variety of mutations was also fascinating to hear. Four wings must certainly be a challenge to fly. If Kyrstin was bothered by the demise of some of the recent mutations, he gave no sign. Harsh as it might seem, if they were too disfigured it was probably for the best in his opinion.

Shaken a little by the sudden image, Kyrstin spared a glance for Sheya, frowning. Were fire lizards always going to do that? He made a mental note to avoid these 'pets' at all costs. Letting these people put him on the sands for a dragon was bad enough without more creatures invading his thoughts. "I see," Kyrstin noted when Dy'shi seemed to have finished. Well, you wouldn't see him with one of these mutations, that was certain! "Most of these mutations are physical, yes?" They seemed to be by his description. That meant it was also a good chance it would remain genetic and be passed through Nitrath as well, wonderful. "Your Chakraith seems normal otherwise." At least he would assume she had female anatomy, not that it mattered since greens didn't clutch anyway.

[Ember]

Dy'shi was kind of relieved when Kyrstin appeared to be listening. Was he finally getting through, just a little bit? Not that he cared overly much to be everyone's friend but he certainly didn't like not giving a chance to all sides of a person. He blinked in surprise when Sheya flashed him an image of the candidate from her angle. Oh great. She was doing that thing again, wasn't she? How he'd managed to impress a firelizard that tried to matchmake for him, he had no idea. Considering Kyrstin's glance at his green...

Dy'shi tried not to think about his firelizard's antics too much. Or rather, he didn't have it in him to deny Sheya anything that wasn't harmful to her. "Yeah, pretty much." He couldn't imagine a dragon actually surviving if the mutation messed with the mental bond at all. Then it was briefly back to Chakraith and Dy'shi carefully dipped his head in acknowledgement. "Yes, other than being blue and yet female, she's normal." She was, essentially, a blue-sized blue-coloured green.

Sheya helpfully broadcast to both boys an image of them sharpening Chakraith's claws and Dy'shi started. "Oh right. We should be learning anatomy or something? Um...well we don't have to do her claws, I can do that later but...is there anything you'd like to try?"

[Rowana]

Kyrstin nodded briefly, agreeing to the change of topic. He would have to ask some of the older riders more about these mutations later, especially since it looked like he might end up with one. Just his luck really. He had to end up here instead of at Fort. Examining Chaikraith's claws briefly, Kyrstin shrugged. "I believe oiling was mentioned, perhaps we could try that?" He was interested in the different needs dragons had from humans. Besides oiling would give him a chance to see more of the dragon up close.