The Last Something That Meant Anything (Lilu)

[Zephyr]

Saying Olivia was jealous would be somewhat of an overstatement. She had stood so many times now that she had lost count, and every time she was left standing. Why didn't the dragons like her? The girl slipped into the hatching grounds while no one was looking. She didn't know if she was supposed to be here or not, but it wasn't like anyone was tripping over themselves to remove her, were they? Pippin, after the incident with Millieth, was hesitant to step foot on the sands, which were heated in preparation for Nitrath's clutch. Liv turned to look at him. " Well, come on stupid. No one's in here." The dragon wouldn't mind him being here when there were no eggs. Whether or not the canine followed her, she would make her way into the stands. The clatter of claws on wood told her that Pippin was right behind her.

Impala steadied herself on the girl's shoulder. Ever since she went blind, the green flit had taken to never being far from Olivia or Pippin. The firelizard and canine seemed to be best friends now, which was a weight off Liv's shoulders, and since Merry could fly now, she didn't always have an overgrown puffball on her shoulder...and poop on her shirt. The razorclaw had decided to perch in the rafters. Olivia never thought it was her menagerie that was keeping dragons from her. When she stood last, she had only had Pippin. Now she had added a firelizard and a razorclaw to the mix. Surely the dragons wouldn't care though, right?

Olivia found a spot in one of the lower tiers, leaning over the railing and putting her head on it, gazing longingly at the spot the eggs would go. Would she even impress this time? Any day now, Nitrath would lay her eggs. She wondered if she should even bother attending the touching. Why get her hopes up? Merry was concerned. His normally optimistic master was experiencing doubt. Chirruping a little, the razorclaw flew to where she was and perched on the railing, hopping over to the girl and looking at her expectantly. Why was she sitting here? Get up! Pippin growled at the bird, laying down on the stand under Liv's legs, whining softly. Why did she want a silly dragon anyway? Weren't they good enough for her. Regardless, he loved his girl.

[Aftershock]

Lilu wandered slowly across the Hatching Sands, her hands linked behind her back, her boots lying together near where Venideth had landed when flying her here, her bare feet enjoying the warm sand as her mind wandered. Two Standings, two Impressions... she was born to be the "perfect dragonrider", and she took pride in her abilities... is that the reason she Impressed not once, but twice? And even more rare, both times at her first try? Or was she just lucky, and her training and breeding had nothing to do with it at all?

Sensing the gist of his bonded's thoughts, Venideth, plodding along behind her, said, "It does not matter, Lilumine. Lucky or designed, you Impressed to powerful dragons, and that is all that matters. We are the best in your class, and once you graduate, I know we will be the best in the Weyr." As he mindspoke to her, Lilu leaned against a tall rock, and Venideth settled down on the warm sand, memories of his own hatching making his eye go green in pleasure as she replied, "Perhaps, Venideth. We are the best in the class, and I have no doubt we will be the best in the Weyr once you are fully trained and grown. A new clutch will be born soon, I hear... we both have to set good examples for future riders as well as those already graduated," she added, looking down to brush an errant leaf off her flightleathers and watching it drift down to settle gently on the Sands, it's bright green coloration standing out starkly against the light tan of the rocks and sand of the Grounds.

Suddenly, Venideth noticed another draconic mind... not a dragon, though. Simpler. Picking his head up, his eyes shifting to a curious orange, he looked over to notice the source of the sensation... a green firelizard perched on the shoulder of a young blonde human girl, sitting in the Stands. "We are not alone, Lilumine," he told His, sitting up and gesturing in the direction of the girl with his muzzle. Lilu circled the rock and looked in the direction he indicated, noticing the girl... and her Candidate knots. "Speak of the devil," murmured Lilu, settling on the other side of the rock and watching the Candidate girl, curious as to why she was here, but letting her explain herself if she so chose.

[Zephyr]

Olivia wasn't aware of Lilu's presence. She was too busy staring at one place to really notice anything else. Fortunately for her, her pets were a little more vigilant. Surprisingly, Impala was the one who noticed the dragon and girl first. Despite her blindness, she was able to pick up on the dragon's mental signature first before she was able to look up and see a smooth blue blur and another multicolored one. The flitter chittered noisily, flaring her wings a little. Olivia's head darted up, Merry nearly fell off of his perch and Pippin jumped up with a whuff, staring in the direction of Lilu with intense icy blue eyes.

The girl's s eyes widened when she took in the girl and the dragon. For a moment, she didn't know what to do or say, but found her voice soon enough. " I'm so sorry!" She jumped up, to leave the stands. When she exited, Pippin brushed up against her legs, tail wagging as he regarded these new people. Merry was equally excited. He flapped his wings, snapping his beak happily, but he didn't fly over right yet. One time he had went to go greet a stranger and it hadn't turned out too well. " I didn't know I wasn't supposed to be in here and I was just sitting and looking and..." She realized she was rambling when she looked at the blue dragon then the girl.

" I remember you two." She said, stepping closer. " You impressed at the last hatching!" She said brightly, nearly bouncing in place. " I was there too!" She went on happily, her mood dropping dramatically when she thought of the outcome of the hatching. " But I wasn't good enough for any baby." She wasn't pouting, but she sounded slightly sad. Impala crooned and nuzzled her girl's face, wrapping a wing around her neck lovingly. "You were though!" Olivia looked at Lilu again. " And he's such a handsome dragon! I wish I had one!"

[Aftershock]

Lilu raised an eyebrow in surprise as the extent of the girl's non-human entourage as the apologetic pre-teen came down from the Stands to stop in front of Lilu. Still unused to her bonded and bondbrother being able to fly off, Tselitel finally caught up with her errant companions, the neon-green flit coming to rest on Venideth's shoulder. Venideth, unwilling to be ridden by anything other than His, snorted in irritation and shook the muscular green off of him, and Tselitel screeched in offense and smacked the much larger dragon with her tail before retreating to land on Lilu's shoulder, settling down and glaring in Venideth's direction. "No need to apologize to me, girl. Unless you're breaking curfew or skipping chores to come here, there's no restriction on coming to the Sands or the Stands unless a queen is using them," Lilu said to the young girl before her, sitting up from leaning on the rock and stepping forward to stand before the girl, moving from foot to foot as the warm sand became hot from extended contact with her bare feet.

As the girl continued, Lilu searched her memories... yes, she did vaguely remember this girl, though she didn't exactly interact with her enough to recall anything beyond that she was a Candidate... as her knots proclaimed anyway. "Yes, I remember you, though your name escapes me... Impression affected my mind more than most, and my memory is hazy sometimes," she added, not wanting to get into discussion of her memory lapse yet again. "I'm Lilu, and this is Venideth," she said, indicating the blue dragon beside her, who was posing as best he could in response to the compliment from the young girl. "The girl has excellent tastes, Lilumine," Venideth sent to His, his eyes shifting to a pleased blue shade. Lilu was about to continue when a muscular wing slapped the back of her head, and she glared at the culprit on her shoulder as she added, "And this rude little beast is Tselitel." The green flit spread her wings wide and flexed her powerful muscles, making sure the girl didn't miss her.

"It's interesting," Lilu continued, smoothing her hair where the wing strike had ruffled it, "Venideth and myself were just discussing Impressions, likely brought on by our surroundings." Hand positioned on her chin in thought, the other in a fist near the small of her back, Lilu smartly made a circuit of the girl as she spoke. "I was born, quite literally, to be a dragonrider, purposefully created as a child of superior dragonriders. Venideth is actually my second Impression... my first was likely around your age, back in Benden, my very first Standing," she said, then quickly moved on to avoid further still-painful thoughts of her lost bondmate. "The Standing I Impressed Venideth was also my first, as a Candidate here," she continued. "I do not know whether it was my breeding, or simply luck, that caused it, but I do know in order to even be a Candidate, a dragon must choose you, so you obviously have the potential to be a dragonrider." Stopping in her circling of the girl, her grey eyes narrowed a bit as she inspected the young woman closely, and she then resumed her circuit, adding, "Perhaps it's simply that there was no dragon that matched your mind well enough in Venideth's clutch. It could be that the upcoming clutch shall contain the dragon that fits you well enough to Impress to you."

[Zephyr]

Olivia grinned at the firelizard’s antics, and she had to stifle a small giggle. Impala, little claws fixing her to her mistress’ shoulder eyed the other firelizard, confused to why she would smack a dragon. She couldn’t see the other firelizard very well, only a neon green blue that seemed about the right size for a firelizard, but much too big to be green. A confused chirp followed these thoughts and the smaller green sent a question into the other’s mind, a gentle questioning probe. Why are you so big? It wasn’t meant to be offensive…just there, a question. Impala couldn’t see it was because the other firelizard was buff…she just looked big…too big for a firelizard. Merry seemed pleased by the turn of events. He squawked loudly in greeting, ruffling his feathers in a pleasant way. Look! New friends! He almost flew over to greet the dark blue dragon, but saw what happened to the flit and decided that a small chirping greeting to the beast and it’s rider would suffice.

The blonde girl blinked at the woman, worrying a stitch in her blouse. She knew that she was allowed to be in here, she just apologized because she didn’t want to be a bother to the other girl, a rider no less. If things had gone right for her, she would have been a rider right now. Surely some blue or green dragon would have found her acceptable had she stood at more hatchings. Eyes searched the woman for any signs that she wasn’t genuine in her words, but she found none. After a bit of a pause, the girl supplied her name to the other. “ Olivia, ma’am.” She said, her tone much more subdued than it had been before. It had been rude of her not to introduce herself before she went off rambling. That infectious grin that seemed to make its home on her face returned when the woman introduced herself and her dragon. “ Hallo, Lilu. And hello, Venideth!” She was positively bouncing now with her happiness (bipolar much?). Afterwards, she was a little quiet, contemplating something before she decided to introduce her companions. “ This is Impala,” She said, scratching the firelizard’s head. The little green crooned. “ She’s blind. Got real sick, and the healers made her blind, but she isn’t sick anymore! And that’s Merry.” She said, motioning to the razorclaw who was still perched on the railing. The razorclaw gave a pleasant chirruping sound when he noticed attention on him. “ And this…” She said, kneeling down to hug the big dog at her side. “ Is Pippin, my bestest friend.” She gave a final scratch to the dog’s head before standing up, growing quiet again as she once more contemplated what she was thinking about before. “ Can I pet him?” She asked Lilu all of the sudden. “ Venideth, I mean? He’s awfully pretty.” She said, looking over to the dragon. There was no way she was just going to go up and scratch a strange dragon without permission first.

She listened to Lilu’s speech with a tilt of the head, honestly curious. Then the girl started walking around her, and Olivia grew confused. Had she done something wrong? She resisted the urge to turn her head to follow the redhead’s path and instead stared forward at the place where Lilu was before. Something in particular caught her attention. “ You impressed before?” She echoed. The girl didn’t know that you could impress twice. She always thought impression put a permanent brand on someone, so that no other dragons would ever want you again. “ Bendon?” She squeaked, only having heard terrible things about the Northern weyr. It was a place she never wanted to visit, ever. The fact that she impressed her first time made the girl visibly droop. She seemed very lucky, which wasn’t Olivia’s experience. She thought she had to be the unluckiest candidate in all of pern. An exaggeration, but she’s twelve…come on. She blinked as the girl finished up, thoughts brewing. “ What if I never find a dragon that matches me?” She said softly. “ Is it possible to go your entire life as a candidate and note find one dragon that wants you?” Way to be a failure at life.

[Aftershock]

Tselitel responded with a pulse of thanks towards Impala, and added that she thought it was nice that the blind green was lying for her benefit, but that Tselitel knew she was tiny and barely noticeable, and she needed to bulk up more so people would notice her more.

Lilu, for her part, nodded in affirmation at each introduction in turn, and when Olivia asked about Venideth, she didn't even have to respond, as Venideth heard the question and plodded forward on clawed feet to present the underside of his muzzle to the girl for scratching. Lilu smirked a bit, and said, "Venideth says you have good taste in thinking him handsome."

Stopping her circuit of the girl, Lilu returned to stepping from one foot to the other on the hot sands, and responded to Olivia, "Yes, before Venideth. A brown. I would prefer not to speak farther on him, his loss still causes me pain." Even the small mention caused a catch in her throat, and she cleared it before resuming, "Yes, BendEn was where I first Impressed." The pronunciation correction was made without malice or sarcasm, almost automatically. She quickly continued, "As for never getting a dragon... I suppose it is a possibility. It was rare back in Benden, but there we were at war as well as dealing with Thread, so we always lost riders, and replacements were always needed... not to mention the larger number of dragons available, due to the medications they used," she added.

Scratching her chin again as she plumbed the depths of her memory, she continued, "I do remember some did age out of dragon Impression age, and resumed drudgework, but it wasn't that common, to be honest. It usually happened to those who were Searched later in their lives." Looking at Olivia once more, she added, "You don't look that old yourself... you likely have many years before you would age out. Even if you did, down here in the South, you would still have whers to Impress to, from what I've been told. The risk of you going through your entire life and never Impressing anything is, honestly, quite low."