take me above your light {maya}

[Avu]

How much /longer/.
Didn’t I say you could eat?
Do I look like I’m eating?
Well, you can.
Helpful.

Grumpy gold was grumpy.

Meira blinked apologetically at Jingth over the rim of a clipboard cradled in the crook of her elbows, fingers curled over the top of the thin slab of wood and paper. She mouthed a silent sorry at the dragon, who wasn’t looking at her to see it, but no doubt she’d get the feeling anyway. They were bonded far too closely for her not to. Hopefully it’d be enough – Meira wasn’t even entirely sure why Jingth felt like she had to wait on her to eat, anyway, just because she was juggling Infirmary business with a scribbled account of how much the gold had already eaten over the past few weeks.

Couldn’t go over the allotted span, and she didn’t think Jingth did – she was a very small gold, after all – but it didn’t hurt to check. That didn’t mean Jingth had to wait, though. Meira watched briefly as shining gold wings snapped outwards, the gust of wind palpable all the way to where Meira was sitting on the fence, one ankle tucked around a post to keep her balance. Jingth threw herself ravenously upon the nearest herdbeast, an unfortunate young buck. Meira blinked back down at the clipboard as claws bit into the herdbeast’s sides, raked downwards in a spray of blood.

Do you remember how many you had last week…?

Jingth looked up, blood dripping from her jaws in a grotesque, macabre display. The gold hummed, content now that she had the first mouthful and a promising meal before her. You know I don’t remember. A swallow, Jingth’s forked tongue flashing out to catch the droplets of blood, and she bent to her meal with another content sound. A pause, and then she said, vaguely, It was only a few, though…

“A few,” Meira echoed, and rolled her eyes. “I just can’t see if it was three or four, and my tallies aren’t straight, what was I doing?”

I believe you were occupied with the hatchling, Jingth reminded her, not at all fazed by the random switch from thought to speech. She nuzzled against the dead herdbeast’s stomach, drenching her muzzle in a fresh gush of blood, lips pulled back so she could lick at the insides, snapping at the ribs with impatient teeth. And speaking of hatchlings, I want to see mine, Jingth added, as if it were entirely a normal topic to breach when muzzle-deep in a herdbeast’s belly. When can we see them?

[kat]

Why in Faranth's name do we have to walk all the way out there? I was comfortable, shells damn it all![/color]

The blue dragon by her side was hardly a dragon yet. To be sure he was a dragon hatchling, but he had many months in which he'd be growing into himself. As it was he was doing a well enough job of it, she supposed. Minus the grumbling and complaining, the fussing and over concerned nature if she got so much as a scratch? Umaheth was turning out to be a perfect match for her. He was so interested when she read her scrolls on dragon healing. She'd never been asked so many questions and the sky blue dragonet seemed quite put off if there were things he didn't remember. These things he had to have drilled into his head and yet astoundingly he remembered some of them. She supposed it was that short dragon memory. Usually the blue couldn't remember the events from a sevenday ago unless she thought of them. Then his memory came back, remembering with her rather than on his own.

"It's good exercise, Yue," she said reasonably. Plus it was so nice to be allowed out and about rather than attending to Infirmary duties at this time of day. She stretched leisurely and then spotted an all too familiar gold going about the business of getting something to eat. Suddenly the blue next to her was paused, and she could feel the horrified expression on his face rather than actually see it. Only she was unsure as to why until she sighed as the realization struck her. Jingth had killed something that was alive. Heth spent his time trying to ensure living things were kept safe. No matter that he knew his food came from things that were once living, he had never witnessed the brutality that was a dragon killing its prey. He had been about to scold her for using one of the nicknames she'd given him prior to it, so she didn't know whether to be grateful for this little mishap or no.

"Heth, it's a fact of life. One day you will have to catch your own food too, you know," she said as kindly as possible. Umaheth had his eyes narrowed and she didn't like the dark thoughts beginning to boil in his mind. He couldn't argue with it because he knew it was true. However, the logic of the fact and his feelings about it were two different things. She couldn't quite make out the string of muttering she heard incoherently in her mind. She got the general feeling of them though. He was not pleased with this concept. Taking lives was not acceptable. She tried to keep from laughing at the thought of a dragon opposed to getting its own food in the natural way of things. Only suddenly she sensed something else: curiosity.

We're going over there before she damn well dismembers the whole thing and it's too late,[/color] the blue suddenly announced. There was no arguing it for he was already taking off at a fast lope--as fast as he could manage, anyhow. It was lucky he was growing proportionately or else it would have been a much slower and clumsier affair. She simply adored how uniform he looked for the most part, save perhaps that she often got the impression he was a bit elongated near the ribs. Other than that he was pretty uniformly built. As a Journeyman Dragonhealer she was a little better at most than determining such a thing. The thought of walking the tables one day flickered through her mind. When Weyrlinghood was done she planned to speak to someone about the possibility of doing just that.

She hadn't seen Meira nearby, but should have counted on it given that Jingth was here. As they approached she gave a small wave when she was sure that Meira saw her. Umaheth ignored the goldrider altogether, rushing immediately over to his clutchmother and staring at the carcass before her with rapt fascination. All the meat he'd seen had been cut up for him into chunks. Seeing the whole animal with its insides had him staring and trying to figure out what was what. He had even forgotten to bespeak his golden mother, so enraptured was he. She could sense him trying to think of the herdbeast parts as coinciding with dragon parts. Well, he had the right idea...

"Hello, Meira," Maya greeted her fellow Infirmary worker, adding as she noted the clipboard, "taking work with you?" She had been guilty of doing that herself. Now the only time she got to do anything related to Dragonhealing was in her free time. She didn't have a lot of that anymore, and usually was too tired by the end of the day to do much studying. If Umaheth hadn't insisted on it so she might have even forgone it some evenings. The fact that Meira's Jingth was clutchmother to her own blue was not lost on her. After all she had scars from that hatching to forever remind her of the day Jingth was Impressed to the other young woman. Lots had happened since then and it wasn't until Impressing Heth that she'd been able to completely rid herself of that silent and imposing fear she felt whenever she'd been around Jingth. Meira she got along with quite well. As a fellow co-worker and healer she had spent many days, evenings and nights in the company of the other healer.

You've destroyed that part![/color] came the indignant and loud enough for all to hear Umaheth's voice, and then, What was here before you ate it? Do you remember?[/color]

Maya winced and looked apologetically at Jingth, then Meira, explaining quickly, "I think he means the liver and some of the intestines..." She cleared her throat and smiled wryly, "he has this...thing. He likes to know how things work and are put together on the insides of living things--and outsides. Only because he can see the outside he figures it out much more quickly." She felt silly having to explain that her dragon had an interest in anatomy of living things. It was kind of odd, but Yue was who he was, and she adored that he took such an interest in something she, too, was fascinated with. Like he'd been hatched just for her--and so he had!

Umaheth wasn't paying attention to Jingth's or his. Instead he was looking sharply at Jingth, displeased and not hiding it. It would seem he had put all thoughts of who he was addressing and her rank out of his mind. This was too important to worry about that! There had been something there, he was sure of it! He wouldn't be satisfied until he knew what. After all, if he knew what was there he could figure out what it DID. If you knew what things were supposed to do it was easier to fix them and figure things out. It made perfect sense, didn't it? At least to him.

[Avu]

Speak of hatchlings and they will come.

Jingth stilled, swallowing the bloody mouthful of intestine and lapping the thick red off of her muzzle, eyes focused now on Umaheth. Not yet graceful, but that was to be expected with hatchlings; he would grow into it, the gold thought, idly maternal. He would be beautiful. Just like all of the rest of her hatchlings – all of them, from this clutch and those to come. The definite pride in the gold’s thoughts earned a quizzical touch from her Rider. Jingth crooned, licking another stray drop of blood from her muzzle. Umaheth and His come, she said.

I…see, Meira observed, as a rather ruffled-looking blue hatchling passed her on a direct route towards Jingth. A little confused and startled, she blinked, twisting on the fence to wave at Maya – she liked the other Healer, and was glad she’d Impressed. Ae’on, too, even though his Impression made her vaguely amused as opposed to simply glad. But then, it made Jingth happy when Healers Impressed, too – totally non-biased gold approved very much of Healers as Riders.

“Hey,” she replied, and offered a small smile, setting down the clipboard on her lap. “Requisition forms, yeah, figured I’d cover it since I needed to go see Kaegan later anyway…” One shoulder rose in a shrug, though the ‘needed’ was probably not quite accurate – for the most part, it was because Riaren wanted to see Kai. A pause as she glanced back at Umaheth, still more than confused as to his actions – he didn’t seem interested in eating, just in…staring? The blue’s ‘loud’ – mentally speaking, in any case – voice only made her further confused; Jingth had never been exceptionally interested in Healing or anatomy…

I haven’t the faintest idea, Jingth said, bemusedly, the gold forcibly restraining herself from rolling Umaheth onto his back so she could poke at him. She settled one clawed paw lightly on the dead herdbeast’s side, head tilting to one side. If you must know immediately, you are welcome to ask Mine. If you are willing to wait five minutes or so, you are certainly welcome to inspect the next before I eat. One was certainly not enough. Enough to take the edge off of her hunger, of course, but not enough to make her full.

Small golds were still big.

“It’s not a problem, it’s…interesting, I guess…” Blink. Meira smiled, quick and reassuring; she wasn’t bothered by Umaheth being interested in anatomy. It was kind of cute. “Jingth was just talking about wanting to see her hatchlings, anyway…I guess she gets to, now…he looks great.” Of course, looking ‘great’ was to be expected early on, when the delight of having a dragon had yet to be overwhelmed by the boringness of daily bathing and oiling, but…Jingth still got hers daily, if only because the gold insisted on looking her best. Vain gold was vain.

[kat]

Maya smiled understandingly. Meira was not the only one who had a habit of taking work along with her. In fact, before Impressing Umaheth she had done the same. Not as much now, though. Heth was quite new and she was still in rapt fascination of their fresh bond. He was her entire world now. She had thought she was devoted to Dragonhealing and yet this was something else altogether. She didn't remember what it felt like for the blue to not have been there in her mind. She had of course had it explained to her prior to Impressing but now she knew there were no words that could ever describe it. You had to have your own dragon to know it.

She had discovered some of what it was like having her Salamandyr, who was sleeping curled up in the big pouch atop her knapsack that she'd made just for him. He had resented Umaheth at first and they argued all the time. Yet it was an amusing sort of arguing. It always made her laugh. They both loved her and that was the problem. Zexion always lorded it over Umaheth that he was older and had come first. So Umaheth used that he was bigger and that second was better. It was certainly comical. There wasn't anything they didn't nit pick or debate upon. Still, the bond she had with Umaheth was different. It was stronger, too. Only she still felt as much love for her bronze Salamandyr as ever before. Possibly more because he was trying very hard, she knew, to accommodate their newest charge.

Maya smiled and looked fondly over at the blue, appreciating Meira's appraisal. She had been careful to not feed him too much--though really he was very particular about that himself--and to make sure that he was oiled and bathed. He would probably complain until her ears bled if she ever missed even the smallest spot. It seemed his well being, hers and even Zexion's was of utmost importance. In fact, he was all too interested in everyone's well being even if it in no way affected him and he didn't even know them! Really she couldn't figure that part of him out. In other ways he was gruff and didn't like to be bothered with anyone. He was quite more solitary but seemed to have an affinity for two particular blues from his clutch. He was certainly...different.

"Jingth looks as good as ever," Maya commented. She couldn't ever remember seeing the gold not looking well oiled, like she needed a bath, or out of place. True when she was egg laden she had looked a little out of sorts. Yet that was to be expected. Then, curiously, "Jingth wants to see how they're all doing? That's really quite nice that she's taking such an interest in them all. I would imagine with eight of them that's quite a chore, keeping track of how each and every one of them is doing. I have enough trouble keeping track of Heth and Zexion!" It was assumed that Meira would know who Zex was. After all the 'mandyr was always with her, no matter what she was doing. And then, "how is Riaren?" The child was a favorite of all the healer's, a familiar face as any in the Infirmary.

Umaheth seemed undecided for a moment, tilting his head to the side, then glancing over at Meira, then back to the carcass. Finally he seemed to come to a decision.

I'll wait. But you had better not go and ruin them again, you hear? There was a pause, and then he looked over at Meira and Maya. You there! Jingth's Mine! You can come over here and give me the names of the parts that, and here he looked very pointedly at his clutchmother, she will NOT destroy this time. When she has another you come here and tell me names, you understand?[/color]

Maya's face darkened as the color rose in her cheeks. Did he never learn? No matter how many times she had told him he needed to show respect due to others of higher rank and position--or even period!--he never seemed to treat anyone differently. Be it a gold, bronze or green. Weyrwoman, Healer or drudge. Everyone got the same blunt and forward treatment. Again she winced a little, and glanced from Jingth to Meira.

"Ugh, sorry about him. He hasn't quite got his manners correct yet. I'm hoping someday he will learn to be less...blunt. And demanding," she added. Often he ordered her to do something. Depending on what it was she either complied with a stern reminder or he got ignored until he could ask properly. It disgruntled the blue to no end but it was the only way to deal with his unruly behavior at times.

[Avu]

“Eight should be okay,” Meira shrugged doubtfully. “It’s better than – thirteen…” Which had been the general number of clutches for a while. Hepaticath’s, Millieth’s…trust Jingth to happily flout that trend. And anyway, following eight hatchlings all from the same clutch shouldn’t be too terribly difficult, not when they would all have Weyrling Lessons together for well over a Turn before splitting up. The question as to Riaren’s well-being earned a wider smile from Meira. “He’s fantastic – still has Mimic with him all the time and hangs all over R’wign…” Hero-worship of his father: Adorable.

If dragons could laugh…

Jingth would be rolling on the ground.

Except that it wouldn’t be dignified at all, but that was okay. She settled for rumbling in definite amusement, eyes whirling in rapid shades of cerulean blue. Such a cute little hatchling, Umaheth was, and so very interesting. Jingth so did want to roll him over and poke at him all over. Surely he would think of it as terribly rude, but his reaction was almost what she looked forward to the most. So very tempting…Jingth burrowed her muzzle into the herdbeast’s stomach, teeth stripping away another length of meat to distract herself. I will be most careful, I assure you, she agreed solemnly.

Meira blinked. And then stared. She had been bespoken by dragons before – most memorable (simply because of how often he’d done it) was Checkoth, but she had never thought of dragons as being willing to bespeak humans they were not at least slightly fond of. Or out of necessity, really. And she was under no delusions that Umaheth liked her, even if his Bonded did. The moment of shock dissolved into a twitch of her lips upwards, though, Meira swallowing a giggle as Jingth’s amusement washed over her; she nodded, grinning, “Sure, just call when you need me…”

Maya’s apology was dismissed with a smile and a slight shake of her head. “It’s fine,” she assured the other girl. “I think it’s kind of endearing – and Jingth doesn’t mind, either. It’s different, I guess. Most dragons don’t even try to order her around.” She shrugged, glancing back at Umaheth and Jingth as the gold snapped at the ribs again, the bone splintering beneath her teeth to expose more of the herdbeast’s organs. “Jingth was never really into…anatomy, either. It’s interesting Umaheth is…” It would’ve been nice if Jingth had taken more interest in Healing, but the gold always insisted that she trusted Meira to take care of it, so why did she need to care?

Convoluted logic, of course, but it kind of made sense anyway. Kind of.

[kat]

Maya knew that Jingth had been caught by a brown. So eight from a brown clutch was quite a good size. True there had been no bronzes in that clutch. Yet that clutch had held her Umaheth. That clutch had forever changed her life. Eight was a perfect number. She glanced over at the blue dragonet, obvious love and admiration practically leaking out of every pore. Did all dragonriders feel this way about their dragons? It was so impossible to imagine that every single person felt this intensely about dragons and yet it had to be so if she did, right?

Her attention went back to Meira as she replied about Riaren. She had noted that Mimic really never seemed to leave the boy's side and how could anyone have missed his adoration of his father? It was simply adorable and it earned a smile and nod from her. She couldn't imagine having a child--but she did like them. Other people's children earned a lot of attention from the Weyrling. She had always enjoyed doing routine check ups on children and babies alike. With Umaheth it was even less fathomable that she should have a child. There were too many turns ahead to say whether or not she would ever really desire a child of her own. As of yet she didn't even have a particular person she liked in a romantic manner. So children were really the last thing she wanted right now.

"He really seems to adore his father," Maya conceded with an amused look towards Jingth and Umaheth once more. She looked back at Meira in time to see her expression. She almost looked....surprised. Was it because Yue had spoken to her? He did have a habit of doing that. It was actually something that seemed to startle more than a few people. He had no compunctions about giving orders, giving his opinion, snapping out about something; he usually didn't seem to care that he was speaking to someone else or aloud for anyone to hear. Was it peculiar? Probably a little. She had rarely, in the two Turns here and her time back home, been spoken to by other dragons when she was not administering to them.

Umaheth gave a dubious huff, blowing hot air from his nostrils and shooting the gold a look that said she had better keep her word. But a warning from his bonded had him holding back from telling her so. Instead he settled down to watch Jingth taking the creature in front of him apart. How very, very interesting! He would have to hold off his questions for now. The creature was simply too mauled and destroyed for him to have an accurate look at things. Instead he looked towards Meira when she replied, satisfied--for now--that his wishes would be met if he was simply patient and waited for Jingth to finish up her meal. He thought better of telling the gold to hurry it up. Maya, for her part, was quite glad he had enough sense to at least not do that!

"I don't know why he's so interested. At first I thought it was simply because I'm interested in healing and all that it entails," she explained, going on after shaking her head and sighing, "but it seems to have nothing to do with me. Whatever interest he already had to begin with might be enhanced a little by my own...but it's all his own interest for the most part. Odd, though. I'd never thought dragons could be interested in things like this."

Umaheth inhaled sharply all of sudden. Jingth had removed the ribs and now he could see more parts! He scurried up to the carcass and placed his forepaws up on the side, peering into it closely and then raising a claw. He poked the heart. He poked the liver. He poked the spleen. He poked all there was to poke, and then his claw got caught on the intestines, and he hurriedly tried to draw it away--only to have the stupid thing follow him out of the body! He began backing up in a comical fashion, the one forepaw upraised--only it didn't end! He tried to go faster and yet suddenly the foul thing tripped him up, and he took a tumble, finding himself suddenly entangled in the nasty thing! What sort of trick or trap was this?!

What the hell kind of thing is this!?[/color] he cried indignantly, standing with the intestine wrapped all around him. It has no end![/color] His eyes widened as he glared accusingly at the carcass and then his eyes shot over to Maya and Meira, then to Jingth. Then, to all, Well don't just sharding stand there and stare! Someone help me get this infernal endless thing off, Faranth damn it![/color]

Maya couldn't help it. She burst out laughing, covering her mouth as she got a feeling of infuriation from the entangled blue. Only it wasn't working, and she began to laugh harder.

Stop that and get the hell over here. YOU. Come and get this off now. I'm STUCK.[/color] There was almost a pleading note in that last part, as he looked at his clutchmother, obviously expecting her to right this wrong. His was still laughing, the useless wench! He would give her an earful, but right now he just wanted out of this mess.

[Avu]

“Wonders will never cease,” she murmured, almost a quote instead of an actual thought of her own; she tilted her head curiously in Umaheth’s direction. Selenitas was just full of surprises, wasn’t it…she still remembered K’lir’s ReImpression, and with Millieth’s offspring frequently cropping up with mutations, a healing dragon wasn’t really entirely out of the ordinary. After all, ‘ordinary’ was really a very subjective term. Although Meira was sure Jingth would like to argue that her babies were nothing near ordinary; that they were extraordinary.

“Don’t know how R’wign or Kalierre will feel if there’s a baby dragon wandering around the Infirmary, but if he wants to come in, E’rro and I run the Night shift, so…he’s welcome there, I guess,” if E’rro didn’t object, of course. But Meira didn’t think he would – although to be honest, she’d always had something of a bias towards the brownrider healer, since he’d been the one to stitch up Meisk on the disastrous night of his Hatching. The details were lost over the Turns, but the general memory remained, and she had been grateful. Still was grateful, even if the blue wher was gone now, too, as much a ghost as the memory of his Hatching.

Errr.

…

……

Jingth stopped eating, blood dripping from her jaws as she peered interestedly down at Umaheth as the blue poked at her meal. The warring instincts (one to drape herself onto the ground and croon at her baby for being ever so amusing; the other to remove him physically because this was her food, thank you, and it wasn’t polite to play with other people’s food) melted into a moment of indecision before Jingth tilted her head up, allowing Umaheth his exploration as she snapped up the strips of meat, tongue lapping at her muzzle thoughtfully.

The thoughtfulness evaporated into instant amusement, whirling electric blue and lime green in the amused gaze, as Umaheth drew the intestines out of the herdbeast’s stomach, the length unraveling. Jingth could have theoretically stepped on it or snapped it in two, but Umaheth’s flailing and indignation was far too amusing. Jingth crooned pleasantly at him, leaning forward to clip off the end with her teeth, lips peeling back at the taste of it; the intestine was one organ she did not eat. So unpleasant. That, and the stomach, of course (it always tasted of grass. If she wanted a salad she’d just graze).

I do not believe I am entitled to help, the gold apologized smoothly, As I lack opposable thumbs. I am sure Yours will be quite happy to help once she stops laughing. And Jingth dipped her head back town to eat. The blue wasn’t attached to her meal anymore, at least; he could be grateful for that, yes?

Meira, biting her lip against the not entirely reluctant giggles, decided to take pity on Umaheth. She slid off the fence, dropping the clipboard just outside of it, and made her way over to the blue, crinkling her nose at the mess he’d gotten tangled in. “Herdbeast intestines can get about twenty times as long as they are,” she commented lightly, since he seemed to care. “That is, if the average herdbeast’s about seven feet long…” Reaching forward, she unlooped a length of it from around one wing, dropping it to the ground and ignoring the blood smeared on her palm in favor of reaching for another loop around Umaheth’s muzzle, “about a hundred and forty feet long. And up to a hundred and seventy, I think.”