Flying Candidates [Tags Meira]

[boober]

It was a couple days after the horrible incident with Bite in the dining hall, and C’lryn had managed to talk Meira into taking her for a ride on Minoath. It was the least he felt he could do after the little green terror had taken the candidate hostage. Sharding thing. She had been left in the weyr under Darling’s sharp eyes to make sure she would stay out of trouble for a few hours. Knowing the green, she was probably sulking someplace out of sight. But he’d actually given little thought to her after he was assured that she would behave herself as much as she was able. C’lryn had prepared Minoath early, giving him a bath and a fresh oiling then leaving him to bake in the sun a few hours. It had been just after midday when the young bronze rider had put straps on his beast and the two had left their weyr to pick up the candidate. Minoath liked Meira, that much was obvious when he had lowered his head to be scratched the moment he saw her. Naturally, anyone he didn’t like wouldn’t get a chance to touch his precious person.

The usual joking small talk had been made on C’lryn’s part as he’d helped Meira with the riding gear he’d brought, then up onto the giant lump of bronze and made sure she was strapped snugly in. All this would be for aught if she ended up falling to her death. Minoath had snorted, clearly offended at the thought before reminding his rider that he was too good a flier to drop anyone. Especially someone he liked. His rider’s only reaction had been to chuckle and mount up, taking his place behind Meira. With a little effort on Minoath’s part, all three were shortly airborne.

Now, they were just gliding over the thick canopy of the jungle, the only sound that of the wind rushing past and Minoath’s wingbeats. Where are we going? C’lryn’s shrug to his dragon’s query was felt more than seen by the bronze, who did a shallow swooping dive, his tail lashing leaves from the trees before he pulled back up. This is boring. C’lryn didn’t bother to scold Minoath for his complaint, simply because he happened to agree… whole-heartedly. Just flying around not really doing anything got kind of old rather quick. Which was why he leaned down so he could talk to Meira with minimal shouting.

“Are you enjoying yourself?” If she was fine with this, then they wouldn’t do anything too drastic. It would sort of defeat the purpose of inviting her along if all they did was scare the wits out of the poor girl. Slightly disgruntled but seeing his rider’s point, the bronze angled off toward the beach, beating his wings for more altitude. They were flying relatively low, just a dragonlength or so above the trees. Another precaution to not frighten their passenger, as normally this particular pair was much more daring than this. C’lryn was hoping Meira was bored too, then they could kick it up a notch and show her what Minoath could really do in the air!

[Avu]

Meira really hadn’t expected C’lryn to do anything to make up for Bite’s behavior towards, not only her, but towards the Weyrwoman—she thought, quite frankly, that she’d gotten off easily, with just a scare (at least she was still intact both emotionally and physically, no?), but it was still nice of him to offer to make up for it—although to offer a ride on his Minoath was incredibly generous. Most people were rather protective of their dragons, weren’t they? Especially Bronzeriders—this was a point in their favor. Besides, she thought Minoath was wonderful, too—and friendly. Very friendly. Much more friendly than any other dragon she’d met before, with the possible exception of a few greens. She’d balked a little at first—the last thing she wanted was to burden C’lryn, even if Bite had been…rude. But she’d ended up mounting the bronze—rather uncertainly, but she’d managed fine—and being strapped in.

And now? She was content, if not overly excited. Flying was a new feeling, the wind and the weightlessness—it was interesting, too; Minoath was large. Much larger than she’d expected—just oiling him had, apparently, not been quite enough to grasp his entire size. Meira had become confident enough not to have a death grip on Minoath; the bronze seemed to be quite effortless in the air. The Candidate tightened her grasp tightly, more on instinct than out of fear, as the jungle appeared under them. The trees seemed so small, so insignificant, under them, as if just by stepping off Minoath she could squash them all—which just emphasized how unused to flying she was. In fact, now that she considered it, this was her first time on a-dragonback just flying. Before, she’d only gotten on a dragon to come here, and that was only a quick ride upwards and then between—off and on before anything even happened or it so much as occurred to her to be frightened or to enjoy herself.

As C’lryn leaned over to ask something, she twisted slightly to better hear him over the wind. “Are you enjoying yourself?” She cocked her head, briefly considering the question. While she wasn’t excited, she was enjoying herself—Meira shrugged, a small smile twitching at the corner of her lip. “I’m fine—but is this what you normally do?” she asked, raising her voice to be heard above the wind. “I mean, if Minoath wants to be more creative, he’s welcome to.” She was quite sure she was strapped in tightly enough not to fall off; she’d seen dragons doing Wing Drills before, diving with their Riders, the more daredevil ones even flipping from time to time—while that was, perhaps, a bit extreme, it was still tempting. Meira felt completely safe on Minoath—which made a lovely change from her reactions with the bronze dragons at Benden Weyr—and was quite willing to let him…experiment. Especially if Minoath was bored—she had a vague suspicion that they were, probably. One thing she had never seen dragon and Riders doing voluntarily was just flying straight—they usually added some sort of more—adventurous scheme—to it, and quite frankly she doubted that C’lryn and Minoath were any exception.

[boober]

C’lryn flashed a grin at Meira’s question even as Minoath rumbled quietly in amusement. All they did? Oh no; far from it. “You really want to see what all we do?” Without giving her a chance to reply, the bronze rider tightened his grip on the flying straps, in effect also tightening his grip on the candidate’s waist. “Hold on.” Those two words were all the warning she received before Minoath, whether on some unseen cue from his rider or just on his own whim, suddenly plowed forward. His wingstrokes changed, going from long, slow, and leisurely to swift and powerful, almost exaggerated sweeps as if the bronze was taking huge scoops out of the air. The effect was immediate as they surged forward and up, leaving the landscape far, far below and bringing the clouds almost startlingly close. They were really flying now, in every sense of the word; their speed had increase dramatically and the forest that had been touchably close before was suddenly growing smaller and farther away. Wisps of cloud began to mist over the view of the earth so far below them.

Now this was really flying! Minoath didn’t have the muscle mass that many bronzes boasted, but as far as C’lryn was concerned, it was an advantage. Without the muscle weighing him down, Minoath could fly like few other bronzes. And he was about to prove this beyond a shadow of a doubt. His ascent into the sky was cut off suddenly as he leveled off, eyes whirling with pleasure now that he was not confined to ‘boring’ flying, as he called it. C’lryn had a small inkling of what his bronze had in store just before Minoath folded his wings and suddenly plunged sharply downward in a controlled fall that made the bottom of C’lryn’s stomach feel as if it was falling away, and both the bronze rider and the candidate levitated from the dragon’s sturdy shoulders as far as the straps would allow them to.

A thrill raced up the young bronze rider’s spine, and if he could have found his voice, he would have shouted his glee for all to hear. But as it was, any sound he might have made was lost, stuck somewhere between his lungs and his throat, leaving him to grip the straps in utter silence. At the critical moment, Minoath suddenly flared his wings to level off and skim across the tops of the trees once again. Except this time, their speed was breath-taking. Instead of being able to make out individual leaves, the forest canopy was whizzing past in a blur of various shades of green. The bronze swooped across the treetops in a tight turn, his large wings spread to their fullest, the tips hitting some of the leaves of the trees with sharp ‘whap!’s and ripping them from their stems. If Minoath noticed, then it clearly didn’t bother him, as he didn’t even so much as flick a glance at his wingtip as he righted himself from the turn.

Suddenly, there was a break in the trees on the horizon, the seemingly unending jungle giving way to an even more endless swath of blue that curved across the horizon: the ocean. With a wide sweep of his wings, Minoath rose once more, leaving the trees behind again as they gained altitude. But there was no abrupt dive this time; instead, they suddenly disappeared, the warm, humid Southern scenery immediately replaced by the cold nothing of between.

Dark…
Darker…
Dar—

It was mere seconds before the trio burst into the now seemingly bright light of the Southern sun… right over the water. Minoath hovered for a moment, great wings beating the air in time with the waves that lapped at the shore a dragonlength or so behind them. There was a jumble of rocks to their right, half submerged, and a clump of trees on the beach to their left; perfect points of recognition for a jump. C’lryn laughed, his hands loosening their grip on the straps. He shook them out as Minoath, looking rather pleased with himself, swept his wings back and went gliding smoothly across the water.

“How was that? Have you sworn off flying forever?” C’lryn was grinning as he issued his question, clearly teasing. Hopefully the flight hadn’t been too exciting for the candidate, she would want to continue. Otherwise, he would have Minoath drop her back at the Weyr. He caught the faintest hint of disapproval towards that idea from his dragon and couldn't help but grin. He couldn't blame him; he didn't want to end it so soon either. But this flight was for Meira, and C'lryn was going to let her call the shots.

[Avu]

The way C'lryn answered her question was...slightly unnerving, but even if Meira had wanted to answer, she didn't get the chance to. Hold on. That would be a good idea...she twisted her fingers more tightly around the straps, tightening her legs around Minoath's neck as well. If it was too tight, the bronze would let C'lryn know, wouldn't he? Any last-minute anxieties didn't have very long to form, as the instant she'd secured herself in the riding straps, Minoath was off. The first thing she noticed was not the fact that the ground was falling away from her, but that Minoath's wings were abruptly much more powerful, no longer the slower strokes as before. And then she chanced a glance downwards and realized the purpose behind this - they were going up. Meira drew in her breath, an almost giddy excitement rising. Fear was there, too, yes - but above all was excitement as the clouds drew closer, the temperature dropping as thin wisps of - clouds? or just fog? - started to blur the Weyr from sight. How high up could a dragon go? Considerably less with a Rider, obviously - but the Weyr was already a dizzying distance away and Minoath didn't seem at all strained.

Her stomach had just adjusted to the new feeling when Minoath leveled off, and she relaxed her hold slightly on Minoath's straps, taking the brief second to look down at the Weyr again. How small, how insignificant, it seemed right now, so high up! She could still make out the smudges of color that were undoubtedly dragons on their weyrledges, but they looked so small. That split second was cut off as Minoath tucked his wings in and dove. It felt more like a fall than an actual dive, and Meira's fingers instinctively tightened on the straps, the wild desire to laugh rising in her throat. The air was rushing by fast enough that, if she screamed, it would be inaudible even to herself. As it was, she was unaware if she'd made a single noise on the way down, forcibly relaxing herself, making herself breathe. Meira had just succeeded that when she felt herself lift from Minoath's shoulders, and then the slightest jerk that meant the riding straps had caught them. She tightened her legs and hands, tight as they already were, her breath carried away by the wind. The ground was rushing up to meet them and then -

They were no longer falling, but skimming at an incredible speed across the treetops. The wind pricked at Meira's eyes; she was forced to narrow them to see, despite her desire to see exactly what was going on. Things blurred; the surroundings disappeared before she could see them - it was incredible. She was afraid, yes; there was no denying that - but it was a breathless, giddy, adrenaline-inducing type of fear, the type of fear that people actually enjoyed. The furious pounding of her heart was loud enough to be heard over the wind rushing by, or so it seemed - even the terror of the dive was a "good" terror. And then they were ascending again, and Meira instinctively tightened her grasp again, which had loosened during the smooth, leveled flight after the dive. But the warmth of the day, the sight of green trees, of the weyr - all sensations were replaced abruptly by a cold nothingness that pressed stiflingly against the senses, extinguishing everything. Between only lasts as long as it takes to cough three times...

She pressed her eyes closed as the darkness of between was replaced by the flash of light, the warmth returning instantly, gasping in slight shock despite herself. Even with her eyes closed, Meira could still feel the bright warmth of the sun against her face and she opened her eyes with a curious glance around them to figure out where exactly they'd between-ed to. Just above the water, a dragonlength away from shore. She blinked experimentally as her pupils adjusted to the abrupt change, loosening her hold on the straps and raising one hand to rub her eyes briefly. C'lryn's laugh behind her was taken as a signal that the ride was, for time being, over, and she relaxed, raising her face briefly to the sun as if in remembrance of the cold of between.

"How was that? Have you sworn off flying forever?" It was clearly uttered in a teasing tone, and Meira had to laugh at the idea, although it came out a bit breathless, although still sincere. "Just give me a moment to restart my heart," she responded, matching the Bronzerider's joking tone. "No, honestly, though, it was amazing." And it had been. She'd seen dragons in flight often enough - but it had never occurred to her exactly what it would feel like, to ride one other than the slow, reassuring glide; it was frankly exhilarating.

[boober]

The flight had taken on a more leisurely pace, and this allowed for rider and passenger to speak more easily to one another… and also for their hearts to regain a normal rhythm. C’lryn grinned at Meira’s response, pleased beyond words that she didn’t want to go back to the Weyr. First impressions were lasting indeed, but C’lryn’s first impression of Meira (that she was a bit on the skittish side) was starting to fade a little. If she could handle flight that would have most non-riding people scared silly, then she was all right as far as the bronze rider was concerned. And clearly, his dragon agreed. Rather than saying anything, however, the bronze simply sent His a feeling of approval about the girl, and it was part of why C’lryn looked like he was about to burst into laughter. “Minoath likes you, you know.” He couldn’t help spilling the beans to Meira. Fortunately, Minoath didn’t mind in the least, his eyes whirling bright colors of contented amusement. It was true; he had liked Meira from the start, the day that she had helped His bathe him so long ago in the river. Despite this though, it was unlikely that the bronze would ever speak to her. He was content to tell his rider things to pass on, but even this would be rare. Still, Minoath had other ways of showing his favor.

Like happily agreeing to take the girl on the ride of her life. It was also safe to say that if Meira ever needed a ride to anywhere on Pern, all she had to do was ask C’lryn and Minoath to take her. Not many people could boast of having a bronze and his rider to call on whenever they had need of them.

But it seemed that Minoath had decided that they’d had enough time to talk and recover. Were they to look down now, C’lryn and Meira would find the ocean far below them, sparkling in Rukbat’s light and shadows drifting beneath the surface of the water, most likely dolphins. C’lryn barely had enough time to tighten his grasp on the straps and on his passenger before Minoath narrowed his wings and veered suddenly to one side, the world abruptly skewing itself wildly as the sea became the sky and sky became sea as the bronze rolled through the air rapidly only to flare his wings and catch himself. They were then swinging landward again, swooping swiftly through the air with the speed that the barrel roll had given them. They were flying further down the beach now, sand and rock blurring by beneath them as Minoath’s shadow raced them below, forever earth-bound. An insistent squeeze on Meira’s arm came accompanied with a shouted “Look!” from behind her as C’lryn freed one hand to point down at the ground. There was an instant of what looked like sun twinkling off dragon hide only on a much tinier scale before the colors vanished, seemingly startled by the big bronze’s shadow flying over them. Wild firelizards.

Just that quickly, they were facing the ocean again as Minoath turned practically on a wingtip to zip back over the sparkling water. He took an unexpected dive, not as steep as the first but still enough for the bottom to drop out of C’lryn’s stomach once again. The bronze leveled off just before hitting the water though not soon enough to avoid it completely. But this appeared intentional as they skimmed across the surface, raising huge, sparkling wings of water on either side of them. It slowed them drastically, and Minoath had to work to regain altitude. His wingtips slapped the water the first few times as he rose slowly back into the air, water dripping from his tail and belly. The wind from his great wings stirred the water below, creating ruffles and ripples and stirring a fine mist off the top of the water. Show-off! C’lryn laughed even as he mockingly chided his bronze, who merely rumbled back at his rider.

I thought that was the point of this flight. C’lryn’s only response was to laugh even more as they glided smoothly back toward land.

[Avu]

Her heartbeat was settling again, the disjointed, too-loud rhythm slowly returning to normal, although every nerve still tingled with the sheer freedom that the aerial maneuvers had offered. Meira was watching the water below them, head tilted slightly to one side for a better view over Minoath's shoulder, eyes following first one wave before it melted into the rest of the monotonous ocean, and then the next. The steady licking of waves was soothing; it settled her much faster, more efficiently, than telling herself to breathe had. The sparkles of Rukbat, reflected in the water - it was a lovely scene. The type of scene that never seemed to happen in real life - except now, it was. The Candidate glanced back, slightly surprised by C'lryn's comment. Minoath liked her? That was frankly unexpected. She liked Minoath, obviously, and C'lryn - but to have the bronze dragon like her - it seemed odd. Perhaps merely because of her previous experiences with bronzes; perhaps because she'd always assumed that Candidates were too low for a bronze dragon to care about. But then, those bronzes had been Benden bronzes, not Selenitas ones..."I'm glad," she responded after a moment, running her fingers along Minoath's hide lightly.

The only warning this time was that C'lryn tightened his hold on her - and Meira took that as a signal to tighten her own grasp on the straps. It turned out to be a very good idea, for the next second the world had flipped itself entirely; the sky fell away below them while the sea stretched on above. It was a heady, dizzy feeling; Meira couldn't repress the gasp as they righted again, but it was highly doubtful it was heard over the noise of wingbeats and the wind. She'd leaned forward slightly, pressing herself closer to Minoath, and, as the wind whipped by as they headed landward, Meira realized it was probably a good idea if she wanted to keep her eyes open entirely. She tilted her head towards, watching the ground blur by beneath them - yes, ground now, no longer water - focusing on the dark shadow that Minoath cast below them. A squeeze on her arm; C'lryn's shout was nearly missed as she twisted to follow his arm, barely catching the twinkle of sunlight off of scales - scales that vanished instants later, the colors abruptly disappearing from sight. Fire lizards! There was no doubt about it; it had to be wild flitters. No other wild creature could look so much like dragons. Meira couldn't help keeping her gaze along that area of shore, half-hoping the flitters would reappear from wherever they'd disappeared to.

And then - she lurched slightly to one side, fingers tightening on the straps, as Minoath veered on one wing, and the view of the ground was replaced, again, with the shimmering waves. Nearly before she'd righted herself, the bronze was diving again, and Meira felt her stomach clench against the drop, wind whipping her hair into her face and away from it by turns, the water coming closer - and then Minoath caught himself just far above enough to keep them out of it - but no, that was wrong. He had touched the water. Whether by accident or on purpose didn't matter; the water rising in spurts and creating sparkling walls on either side was entrancing and the question had disappeared completely from Meira's mind by the time the bronze started to gain altitude again. Her gaze dropped to the water, watching as ripples rose and then disappeared, rose and disappeared. The ride was much smoother this time and Meira tentatively loosened her grasp on the straps when C'lryn started to laugh.

She took that as a sign that yes, there would be no more wildness - at least for a time. His unexplained laughter did prick curiosity, and although she didn't twist around to look at C'lryn, she did glance over one shoulder slightly, raising one eyebrow questioningly. "What's so funny?" Was it her or Minoath or just something that he'd seen that she'd missed?

[boober]

C’lryn just grinned at Meira’s question. “Nothing. Private joke.” In other words, it was a conversation between himself and his bronze. It wasn’t that it was really all that private, he just didn’t think that Meira would get it even if he told her. Therefore he simply distracted the candidate by gesturing idly downward. They were gliding along toward the beach again on Minoath’s large wings, but there were no hints of anymore stunts to come, therefore the bronze rider waved his hands at the beach. “What say we sit on the beach for a while?” The suggestion was both to his dragon and their passenger and worded in such a way as to be discreet. He knew that Minoath could probably use a rest; he wasn’t used to pulling a bunch of fancy twists and turns like that for very long. The last time he’d pulled stunts was Jeminorth’s last Flight, and that had been quite a while ago.

If he was hoping to keep his true intentions from his bronze, he was bound to be disappointed. I do not need a rest. But C’lryn was unperturbed.

Fine, do it for us then. I think my butt is falling asleep. The bronze couldn’t help but rumble at his rider as he swooped down low over the beach. His wings flared wide as he pulled up and backwinged once before landing. His feet sank into the sand even as he crouched and extended a foreleg to aid in dismounting. C’lryn had already started unfastening Meira from the straps before offering her a hand down. Only when she was safely on the ground did he turn his attention back to himself. It took mere seconds to unbuckle himself and he all but slid down Minoath’s shoulder, barely touching the bronze’s foreleg with a booted foot before hopping nimbly to the beach. Straightening, he flashed a grin at Meira before turning back to face Minoath. Reaching up to the small leather pouches resting against the bronze’s shoulders, he pulled a wineskin from one and a leather drawstring bag from another as he turned back to the candidate.

“You hungry?” Yes, he’d just pretend that was the real reason he stopped. Although to be honest, he /was/ a little starving, and the sounds that came from his stomach proved as much. Minoath blinked at His; the dragon, like most, just didn’t see why humans needed to eat so often. They were so much smaller than dragons and yet the dragons only ate two or three times a sevenday. But instead of trying to puzzle it out, the bronze simply ducked his head and gave Meira a nudge. C’lryn hadn’t been lying when he’d told her that his dragon liked her. He just smiled at the interaction, although it did remind him of something. “Oh, by the way, if you ever need to go anyplace, we’ll be happy to take you. Just give us a shout.” And there was that grin again before hazel eyes flicked out across the beach, searching.

“How about there?” He pointed to some smooth and relatively flat rocks just down the beach. Clearly, he was referring to places they could take their meal.

[Avu]

Private joke? It had been Minoath, then...well, she could respect that. Blinking against Rukbat's rays, she relaxed her grasp enough to shade her eyes with one cupped hand, her eyes sweeping the horizon before she dropped them, half following C'lryn's gesture and half simply to avoid the bright light. Beach. Sand and waves, painting an idyllic picture, beneath them. It was peaceful, despite the constant threat of having Minoath suddenly decide to go into some crazy flight pattern - funny how she was completely unafraid, too. Perhaps it was the straps securing her into position - but honestly, C'lryn was...reassuring. Meira tilted her head slightly, the better to hear C'lryn's query, and then nodded in agreement, not bothering with speech. The simple motion answered quite well anyways. Besides, the heat of the day had her feeling incredibly lazy, as was only natural.

Her fingers clenched instinctively around the straps as Minoath swooped downwards, although his backwinging caught her off guard and she clung a little tigher than necessary before recognizing the motion. How had she not expected that? Meira dropped her eyes to study how exactly she'd dismount, watching silently as the soft sand shifted under the bronze dragon's weight, and - straps. The Candidate shifted slightly, trying to make it easier for C'lryn to undo them, and although her natural instinct was to help, she refrained, as undoubtedly she'd only get them in a tangled mess. Flashing him a grateful smile, Meira accepted his hand, managing a vaguely dignified dismount before stepping back, as if unsure whether or not she'd hurt Minoath at all in her scramble. Apparently not, although she drew in her breath, slightly embarrassed by the awkwardness of her own dismount in comparison to the Bronzerider's. Well, naturally he'd been practicing longer, but that knowledge didn't keep the thought from her mind.

The Candidate paused, watching as C'lryn produced a wineskin and a bag from the sacks hanging on Minoath's straps, a slight smile quirking her lips at his question. Hungry? "A bit," she admitted, one hand moving to her stomach as a reaction to his words. Actually, not hungry enough to realize it until C'lryn had asked the question, but - still hungry enough to eat. The smile changed into a grin at the sound that emerged from C'lryn - clearly his stomach. "Probably not as hungry as you are, though," she added wryly, "If that was anything to go by." Minoath's display of - affection? Yes, C'lryn had said he liked her - was surprising, frankly, although Meira took it without comment, hesitantly reaching up to rub the bronze's nearest eye ridge, raising her eyes to the jeweled orbs that were the dragon's, a slight smile parting her lips. Her eyes slid back to C'lryn, surprised again, at his comment. "Thanks - I - I really appreciate that," she answered. And she did appreciate it; it was clearly a generous offer, but probably not one she'd take advantage of too much. It wasn't so much that Meira didn't like the company of Minoath and C'lryn - because she did like their company - but she didn't want to become a nuisance either.

She followed his finger to the rocks, narrowing her eyes to study them, and then shrugged amiably. "That's fine by me."