The monster's loose [Emerith's maiden Flight]

[Kisha-Ra]

Although the turn was wearing on and summer had long since been replaced by autumn Selenitas stayed warm for the most part, in between storms that was. Though the evening would bring rain judging by the look of the sky, the afternoon was the perfect time to relax in the sun, and in that sun one could hardly fail to notice the glimmer of a spotless green hide.

Emerith, freshly bathed and oiled, lay stretched out languorously on a large riverbank rock. She took a normal enough pose for her, her tail curled loosely about her rider’s slumbering form, shielding him from the wind with her body as best she could. Even Troublemaker perched on the highest point of the green’s back, the brown salamandyr had to be king of the castle in these pile ups, for did he not own all of them? There was nothing out of the ordinary in her behaviour, save for the simple fact it wasn’t usual for Emerith to join her rider in these post bath snoozes. Even her glowing had only sprung up in the past hour or so, it wasn’t a demure glow though, her pale blue green hide fairly burned with the radiance of a green about to fly.

Sure enough her eyelids slid back slowly to reveal blue violet facets instead of Emerith’s usual blue and aqua tones. Her tail slid away from O’dan leaving the greenrider to mumble and shiver as the breeze poked at him with cool fingers. Emerith stretched out, as languid self centred as a cat in the sun. For a moment after rising to her feet the green simply stood, staring silently at the clouds.

Suddenly she reared back, flapping her wings for balance and roared at the sky, startling O’dan and Troublemaker awake. The salamandyr decided to take the better part of valour and launched from the dragon’s back with a mighty bound to vanish among the rocks. O’dan looked at his green dazedly and blinked. What was the meaning of that little display, it was hardly his sweet, calm dragon.

Emerith dropped back to all fours, hissing, and flexed her wings. No one had better think he could sneak up on her here, she’d show any male who tried a whole lot of claw. Her tail lashed indignantly at the very idea. She was far from the sweet and considerate green most recognised her as, she was wild, elemental and thinking only of herself. She was free.

O’dan flinched back at the touch of Emerith’s thoughts, a second glance at her glowing body sent him scrambling backwards and to his feet. ‘Not yet.’ He whispered, but it was too late, much too late, for Emerith sprang into the air with a second, louder roar, ignoring the frantic little part of her that begged for her to stay.

[Rowana]

Garaeth raised his head at the first cry, alert and ready. Many times before he had heard such challenges, but he was no longer a young hatchling with wings barely ready for flight. Now he was full grown and his muscles were trained and fit. He was not the largest of his size, nor the strongest, but he was not going to let that stop him. A green was calling for males to chase her, and for the first time, Garaeth would answer.

T'ke fell out of his furs as Garaeth's roar split the sky. A new wave of emotion swam into his head and he realed to keep his sanity. Garaeth! What is it?! He felt sick. He felt like he wanted to throw up. Garaeth's eyes flashed deep violet. He tensed his legs and spread his wings. A green rises! Garaeth's voice boomed, so unlike his cheerful self. T'ke clutched his head. This could not be happening. He wasn't prepared for this. SHARD IT! You don't even know her! he begged. It does not matter! She is beautiful! I will chase!

It was the last coherent thought the blue gave. Emerith was in the air and he would not wait a moment longer. Garaeth pushed himself from the ledge, his wings caught the air and he rose. He crooned at Emerith as he trailed behind her. She was lovely. His eyes were only for her. Today he would not let any male overshadow him. Today he would prove he was a dragon!

T'ke clung to his last shred of sanity but it slipped from his grasp. Half clothed and wild with Garaeth's lust, he flung himself from his room. Where was his green? Where was his Emerith? Heedless of any who got in his way, he ran down the halls, searching for O'dan. Deep in his subconscious, T'ke screamed for release, but his dragon's mind held him. They were one now. Both seeking the green and her rider.

[glamourie]

You’re not honestly thinking of Chasing her.
And why shouldn’t I?
Hepaticath could Rise any time? You want to chase HER…?
So? This is a green. Hepaticath is a Queen. They are hardly in the same category. Besides, I will know long before you will when Hepaticath is close to Rising. She has yet to even begin to glow. Stop your fussing.
But her rider is a CHILD --
Rysmine.

That really was all it took to shut Ka’rys up - at least, verbally. Lounging on the edge of his ledge (or rather, an empty ledge he’d stolen; Ciceroth thought it quite tactless to take off after another female from Hepaticath’s weyrledge, even if he knew his gold would not see a green as a threat), the bronze curled his claws against the hard stone edge. His tail gave an animated flick, not unlike an agitated feline, and he arched his wings so that the sunlight danced off his pale bronze hide. Everywhere the light hit was lit up with coppery tones that left no denying what color he was -- even though he had a natural luster not unlike that of a gold. His size sometimes could be misleading, but he was most assuredly a masculine dragon, from the ridges that arched up almost at sharp angles, to the definite vanity with which he held his wings, arched around him to show off his size. Ciceroth knew very well how good looking a dragon he was, thank you very much.

His gaze was snagged on the line of the river, further down. His perch on his ledge higher up gave him the perfect view, and he watched Emerith’s glowing form with undeniable interest; as he had ever since her hide began to glow. Arguing with Ka’rys was almost enough to distract him -- almost. His rider did not understand, and probably could not. The last time he’d caught a female was Aslath… over two Turns previous. His eagerness to Chase was surely understandable? Unfurling his wings, Ciceroth stretched out. His claws raked the hard stone, and it was fortunate that he was alone, for the sound alone would have been earsplitting. His eyes whirled hints of violet, and he watched… watched and waited. She was moving and it was only a matter of time after that before she Rose and he would chase.

Stumbling backwards, Ka’rys groaned low in his throat. One hand came up to rest on his face as a surge of feeling not his own washed over him, nearly overtaking his senses. Only the fact that it was a green kept him from completely losing himself to Ciceroth, and even then, it was only a matter of time before his self-control washed away. He wasn’t very good at resisting Ciceroth’s feelings… even under normal circumstances. In his mind’s eye he saw the river and, muttering apologetically to no one in particular (his weyrmate doubtlessly was busy in the infirmary), he turned and stalked out of the room. For all appearances, the bronze rider did not look all that different from usual, his head bowed, shoulders hunched, bare feet moving soundlessly across the stone ground; he was deliberately not making a scene as he walked as fast as he could. His mind raced with different thoughts, trying to keep himself grounded: Where was Kalerary? With R’wign, helping him oil Checkoth. Where was Ophelie? Probably hiding with Worm. Where was Savitri? Infirmary. Where was Ciceroth --?

Being. An. Inconvenience.

Oh, do stop being dramatic, Ciceroth scolded his rider, with an undeniable note of playful amusement in his ‘voice.’ Emerith is more than worthy of our attention.

Her rider is a child. And male.

Why should I care for age? And Worm’s bonded is Salenth’s.

Growling in his throat (from irritation at being reminded of Worm), Ka’rys made his way out to the shoreline. Sand squished up between his toes as he walked, and he was halfway down the bank when he heard the loud roar of challenge. And then his mind was lost to the air completely, leaving Ka’rys stumbling across the sand, a dazed and confused form definitely worth a second or third stare.

Emerith’s call of challenge was answered by his own as Ciceroth leaned his head back and roared; he was careful to do so in the canyon, just so that the sound would be magnified and echo. Not that he was unimpressive without help. His wings flared and he dove off the edge of his ledge. The wind caught beneath his wings and carried him out of the canyon and into the air, after the Rising green that so had his attention. Other chasers and competitors were ignored. Only she deserved his acknowledgment, only she was worthy of his attention. He was, after all, the best.

[Tashe]

As Emerith sounded her first cry, the blue in Ismaroth's eyes faded quickly into purple. Watching with his wings slightly unfurled, Ismaroth reached out to E'rro. /Ermine I'm leaving./ Where? There was a pause. Oh Faranath no. No, no, no, NO. You are NOT going. /But I must, she calls and I will follow!/ Swinging his head in the direction of the Green, he tapped his clawed impatiently on the rocky ledge beneath him. Her hide had reached the point where it could rival Rukbat's rays, she would leap into the sky at any moment. She was almost ready to begin.

He dropped everything he was doing to race out onto his ledge, almost sliding to a stop in his haste. He could feel the first waves of lust roll of of his Brown, knowing (but hoping it wasn't) too late. No! /E'rro. I cannot ignore her./ The Dragon's conviction sealed the deal, Ismaroth was going to chase whether or not he wanted him to or not. Flights were the one thing that the Wingsecond absolutely hated about being a Dragonrider. Clenching his hands into fists, he immediately turned and stormed back into his Weyr, he grudgingly accepted the fact that his Brown would be chasing. He hoped to the First Queen that Ismaroth didn't win the Flight, for both their sake and the Greenriders. He suddenly stumbled as the amount of Lust increased tenfold. Leaning against one of his walls for a moment to regain his balance, the Brownrider growled before jerkily continuing his quest for the flightroom. His mental capacity for reason was quickly diminishing.

Leaping off of his Weyrledge, Ismaroth roared his response to Emerith's call. He pumped his wings to gain altitude, not noticing who else had answered the Green's call until he leveled out. One of them he knew, while the other he did not. A Bronze and a Blue... he could most certainly beat the weyrling, with his years of experience... but Ciceroth would be a annoying thorn in his side in this chase. Clearly, he was going to have to work even harder to gain the beautiful Green's attention.

[Kisha-Ra]

Emerith warbled as the males answered her, well pleased with herself. With a lazy seeming rolling motion Emerith flipped onto her back and took a brief look at her chasers down the length of her body. Oh she had a fine young blue, and handsome brown as well, and a strong bronze. Wait, that was it? Only three males could be bothered to get up off their ledges for her?

Emerith crooned her favour to the three dragons she has as she flipped right side up again and worked to regain lost altitude. Well she was just going to have to show those other lazy dragons what they were missing wouldn’t she. Yes indeed. Emerith hissed and turned on a wingtip, not as tightly as most other greens since she was on the large side.

With righteous fury in her heart Emerith took her chasers back down the river and through the canyon, weaving as complex a path as she could, she didn’t want to be caught yet! As she passed the weyrs at her top speed Emerith let out another playful little warble to her chasers and dropped between the canyon walls, falling low enough to startle a few people on the ground into moving out of her way before she pulled up and allowed her body to drift on a rising thermal for a moment. Did they all see what they were missing? Did they? Well they couldn’t have her! No one could! Emerith spun off her thermal and darted away in a curve that took her back almost the way she had come.

Far from being as joyous in her freedom as his dragon, O’dan fought the growing connection between them as much as he could, scrabbling away from his original position on the rocks as he could, as if distance could break the bond between them. He jerked his head and shook it near constantly too, trying to shake away strange thoughts and urges that had no place in his human life.

O’dan fell from a precarious perch and slipped, ironically back to his starting point. With a sigh that was more than half whimper he recognised the futility of trying to hide or break free, in the end he would seek out his dragons, or they would seek him out. Running was only hurting him more. O’dan tried to reach out as he would to speak to his dragon but he feared this wild side of his green, he couldn’t let go and be swept up in the torrent of emotions. Instead he drew his knees up to his chest and hugged them like a little boy who was frightened of the dark.

[Rowana]

Garaeth dove swiftly after Emerith. She was fast! Such glorious speed worthy of a beauty like her! Garaeth felt his longing grow deeper. Truly she was a magnificent female. But he would not be left behind to easily. He was smaller and more agile than either of the others males. He would show her how clumsy they were next to his skill. Garaeth winged through the canyon, twisting on his wingtips to keep pace with Emerith. He followed her down to the canyon floor, causing rippling waves to flood the banks of the river as his wings disturbed it.

Then they rose again. Up and up until the canyon was a distant memory. Garaeth would not let Emerith out of his sight. The other two meant nothing to him, as he followed his lovely's every move. Was she pleased? She must not feel sad for the lack of males. He, Garaeth was chasing her. And he would use all his strength to make her happy.

T'ke could not find his green. He was dressed only in pants, his brown hair a mess, and his thin blue eyes burned like wildfire. He must look quite a sight, racing through the halls of the Weyr. His frantic steps were taking him further and further from his own weyr. Somehow, whether by some sixth sense or random chance, he was growing closer to his goal. But it was still so far away.

[glamourie]

As he flew along the river, Ciceroth beat his wings, pushing himself higher in altitude. Rather than steady, quick wing beats powering him forward at a rapid pace, he kept them flared wide to sail after the glowing green in front of him. In terms of speed, he couldn’t match her, and he wasn’t fool enough to try. It would just make him look silly. Her young blue chaser could woo her more with dazzling aerial tricks. Ciceroth’s specialty came in his drops (with huge wings, it was remarkable how well he could pull out of them), barrel rolls, and endurance; he could outfly them all in terms of stamina, that he knew with no hesitation. Why not play to his strengths and show off how long he could last? But he did fly fast enough to keep up, if only because being left behind would have been highly embarrassing. It wasn’t very much effort, though, because he deliberately kept his altitude higher. No doubt their young green would put them through the mills - but Ciceroth had no intentions of darting to-and-fro and clobbering himself. He’d let the wind do the work for him.

Another had arrived. Ismaroth. Ciceroth’s violet eyes shifted to the brown, but he didn’t make a peep. In fact, aside from that initial roar, he made not a sound, gliding with surprising ease through the air. He turned several times, showing off what little agility he had for his size, but… no sounds. Let the others try to woo her with loud noises, perhaps even talking; he had no use for such things. She would know his interest in the fact that he was chasing her at all. He didn’t chase just any green. Anyone with eyes in their head knew that about him.

Rather than dip into the canyon after Emerith, Ciceroth barrel-rolled above her. His gaze never left the glowing green form beneath him, but -- what in the --

As she flew past the weyrs, a loud quack resounded from one of them, and then… then an absolutely tiny white form flew out after Emerith. Wings beating, Fuzz quacked again and flew after the glowing dragon. Her little wings beat rapidly, propelling her forward, but so much smaller was she that she barely managed to catch up to the tail of the chaser furthest to the back. Not to worry, though! It was nearly impossible to get the young duck down, as evidenced by her rapid attempts to keep up. She did not glance back at the ledge she took off from, not even as her human thing came running out to the end to watch her with a bemused look. She was determined, she was, and she had her goal in her sights!

Fuzz collected shiny things, and this was the perfect opportunity to expand. That green thing was glowing. Positively glowing! And there was a shiny chasing after her! Two others, too, but they weren’t shiny and so were ignored. She wanted the glowy most of all, to keep in her stash, she did. Unaware of what she was … semi-participating in, Fuzz quacked as loud as she could. Come back, glowy shiny! Come back to Fuzz~~

Rumbling his amusement, Ciceroth darted downward and after Emerith. The quick twisting around had him in motion again and he spun after her, still elevated so that he could easily see all of the other chasers and avoid any unfortunate collisions. As she turned again, he whipped after her, gliding at an angle…

The land-bound half of the bronze pair walked along the edge of the river, bare feet touching in the water. He was altogether very relaxed, casual, as instinct rather than actual knowledge told him where to go. But almost everything came to a halt when he was splashed by rapid waves beating up to the shoreline, caused by rapidly beating dragon wings. The cold water jolted him back into his senses enough that Ka’rys dove away from the river, cursed Ciceroth and Garaeth, and then curled up at the base of the tree. If he could keep himself aware, maybe he would be able to avoid hunting down the greenrider. Maybe he’d be able to stay put, safe, away. It was a pleasing thought, though the cold of the water did nothing to abate the rising need flooding through him. Why didn’t Savitri just tie him down before she left? That would’ve been so much more convenient…

[Tashe]

Angling his wings to follow Emerith into the Canyon, Ismaroth had barely entered the space between the cliffs when he was taken by surprise. He rolled to the side, barely avoiding the feathery thing that had erupted from out of no where. Normally, he wouldn't have bothered to miss it, but the Duck had momentarily stunned him, forcing him to roll. Pumping his wings, Ismaroth growled unhappily at the avian before dipping father down in his chase of the Green. He wasn't as fast as the Blue, nor as powerful as Ciceroth, he was unfortunately somewhere in between.

He didn't dare go as far down as Emerith herself, it would be pushing his limits, so he chose to follow the winding Green in the middle of the canyon. She was a quick one! Fast and agile, just as any proper Green should be. He was high enough to use some updrafts to his advantage, which was a good thing, yet he was low enough that he needed to rely on his own wing strength to propel him forward. As Emerith rose upward, Ismaroth glanced above him before climbing as well. In a matter of seconds the Green was off again, forcing Imaroth to turn as tight as he could on a wing tip before flapping after her. Huffing quietly, the Brown eyed his other two chasers before focusing his swirling eyes back upon the shinning beauty. The Duck had been almost entirely forgotten...

Where was his Green? He should be there basking in his glow... but, if he could not find Emerith, how could he? He paced away from the flightrooms, both lust and agitation clawing at his chest. This was a test. It had to be. He was testing them, testing them to see who truly was the best of them all. Placing his palms against the wall, he curled his fingers slowly, tightening his hands into fists. But where to start? His pretty was somewhere... it wouldn't be long until he found the Green. Pushing off of the wall, the Brown paced down the hallway. He ghosted past the humans who passed him, they didn't matter. None but Emerith mattered. He let his body carry him, to and fro. He had no more control over his own body than a puppet did.

[Kisha-Ra]

Well, something emerged from the weyrs to chase her, but it wasn’t a male dragon. Emerith’s eyes took on a muddy confused shade for a moment. Wasn’t that an avian? And wasn’t it rather small to be chasing her? Her eyes flashed back to purple and she welcomed her strange new suitor with a warble, deciding that if the little avian wanted to compete for her it could. Clearly it was a bird with good taste.

Emerith curvetted away from Ciceroth’s flight path, dropping again and darting under him. Naughty, naughty bronze, mustn’t get so close, mustn’t touch. Not yet. It wasn’t respectful. Garaeth, now he was respectful, following well but not too close, and Ismaroth, oh had her little admirer startled him? Well no harm done, they were both still there.

Emerith flipped her tail flirtatiously and flung herself into a barrel roll, see she could do that too! Rumbling with pleasure she headed back down the river. A wicked little idea came to Emerith and she allowed herself to drop again until she was almost touching the surface of the water with her feet. She drifted along the river’s path for a few moments then brought her wings down in one massive swoop, raising a corresponding shower of water droplets that rose up around her and pattered down on her glowing hide. Oh she loved it! But she just wasn’t used to going so fast, speed wasn’t her strongest point and she was tiring. Well surely there was time for a few more tests. Did she still have everyone?

O’dan slowly uncurled as he became more and more Emerith. A smile danced around the corners of his mouth, oh he was enjoying this, all these males paying attention to him. Only him. Wait! His gaze darted around, where were his chasers? Oh no! They were lost! Well he’d better find them, they’d be missing him. O’dan hopped up onto a higher rock, more graceful now that he was no longer fighting his green. As swiftly as he could he clambered to the highest point around and howled, a wild animal sound that commanded his dragons to come to him. Now.

[Rowana]

Garaeth blinked and almost planted his nose in the ground. Was that an avian? It was indeed. A white water avian chasing after his green. It seemed odd, but if the little creature wanted to chase, Garaeth could only commend his determination. He payed the little creature no more mind, returning all focus to Emerith, his lovely green. He swooped after her again, mindful of his distance. He mustn't hound her too close, or he wouldn't be able to react if she changed direction. She would chose when she was ready and he was content to wait until then.

Oh how beautiful she was when she rolled! Such a wonderful trick. He may not be so graceful as she, but Garaeth endeavored to show her what he could do. Gently, he did a looping roll of his own, coming out just into to see her dive towards the water again. She was fast! Garaeth turned the end of his roll into a dive and dropped after her. Water splashed as he nearly didn't pull up in time. More water showered his hide from Emerith's spray. He shook his head, blowing droplets from his nostrils as he zoomed on. What did he care for a little water? Water was fun! And Emerith looked magnificent with it dappled across her hide. He crooned with delight. What a marvelous chase!

T'ke stumbled through the halls. There! His green was calling him! He darted off at a dead run and finally saw his prize. Heedless of his exhaustion he stalked to O'dan's rock and circled it. She was so high, but he dared not come after her. She had no chosen yet. No other males were here, though. Perhaps she would chose him!

[glamourie]

Hmm…? Ciceroth cocked his head to the side inquisitively as Emerith came up and then darted away; silly green, he’d been staying above at a distance for a reason. He didn’t make a peep, though, even as he turned to dart after her. The wind beneath his wings was enough to propel him forward languidly, and he made no effort to catch back up to the green; she was much faster than him, see? He did, however, beat his wings enough to keep up with Ismaroth… or, as best he could; the brown was also faster than him, but at an equal disadvantage compared to the blue. He spun, flaring his wings to remain higher aloft than the rest of the dragons. He liked being higher up. It gave him a better view, and kept him out of a collision course with the others chasers. Sometimes, other male dragons did not do a very good job of paying attention to their competitors. He only was aware of their physical presence and only out of a need for self-preservation - nothing else.

He hadn’t intended to follow her closely; at least, not enough for her to wriggle away that way. He’d just been distracted by the quacking from behind. His mistake. Half-tempted to croon an apology, Ciceroth settled for showing off instead. When Emerith went to drop, he followed suit, but rather than angle, he actually snapped his wings into his body, free falling after her as a rapidly spinning bronze blur. Right before he impacted the river, he flared his wings and came to an abrupt stop. The large wingsails acted as a parachute, pulling him up several feet before he was able to turn and fly right back after the glowing green form. Each wing beat of his made the very tips of his wings touch the rapids and Ciceroth spun, mimicking the earlier roll he’d done and also Emerith’s. Little droplets of water flared around him as he went, ascending slightly with each flap of his wings. He didn’t intend to stay so close to the water if he could help it. That never went well.

Behind him, flying at a significantly slower pace than the rest of the chasers, was the smallest. Fuzz quacked piteously as she powered herself forward, flinging white feathers around as she went. Down the line of the river, the duck chased, trying her best to keep up and failing miserably. She was already tiring from how hard she was trying to keep up with the group and she could barely keep her gaze on them. Still, she did not relent in her attempts, even as an explosion of insults raced through her mind (no doubt from the red thing that she wanted to collect so badly). She wanted to keep the glowing thing, she did. It was the perfect finishing touch to her collection. Didn’t the glowy want to be collected? Quack, quack. Well, it needed to be.

As she came upon the other flying things, Fuzz acquired an idea. Quacking excitedly, she snapped her bill down on the end of Ismaroth’s tail. Holding on for dear life, the little duck flapped her wings excitedly as the brown flew after the green, and she thought herself entirely clever. Look, look. She’d gotten a free ride to catch her glowy! He’d take her to the glowy, he would. He wanted to collect it too, she was certain, and since she was there, maybe the glowy would stop with its game of hide and seek and come back to them~ They could share, they could!

Shaking, Ka’rys leaned against his tree, trying his best to go to sleep or - or something. He was dimly aware of a sense of urgency, and against his will, he rose to his feet. His eyes started to dim again, the temporary awareness from the water splashing over him fading away. All of his self-control was lost as he heard a loud, animalistic sound from nearby. And then he actually turned and half-ran, his feet crushing the sand beneath them. Water dripped from all over him as he made his way to the cluster of rocks and came to an abrupt, skidded stop, sand kicking up over his legs in the process. He froze there, several paces behind T’ke, and cocked his head to the side almost curiously. The look on his face was decidedly not Ka’rys. In fact, it was so far from Ka’rys that those who knew him would be alarmed; there was a passive amusement mingled with interest and a level of patience the bronze rider was simply incapable of. Clever green, perching there out of their reach…

[Tashe]

Spinning, he followed Emerith farther down as she once again dropped to fly above the River. Again, he didn't dive as far down as Garaeth or the shinning glory herself, he would loose his place in the line up in the end. Pumping his wings, he watched Emerith as she darted around beneath him, mirroring her moves so that he could keep up. But as soon as Fuzz clamped onto his tail, his flight path wobbled, the duck was setting him off balance. Growling he lashed his tail from side to side, trying to dislodge the annoying pest. His wings had to work twice as hard to keep himself stable as he flicked his tail around.

The avian wasn't worth the trouble, growling he pumped his wings harder to catch up with the other two chasers. He'd just have to compensate for the extra pound or so that was now attached to his tail. Emerith's stunt with the water drew his attention away from the parasite, the water droplets refracting both Rukbat and her own beautiful shine. It was as if she was a star that had descended from the sky, she shone and twinkled. Dipping farther down, Ismaroth rumbled to himself in appreciation. She was truly a Green who was worth chasing.

---

Down the stairs and out into the light, the humanoid partner rubbed his eyes as they adjusted to it. The need to find the Green was picking up in urgency, but he had yet to find him. Turning around wildly as he picked up a howl, the Brown grinned as he jogged in the direction in which the call emanated. A few moments later, E'rro came to a stop near one of his opponents, not caring who it was. Pulling his attention was the one he had been looking for, so high up, the Green towered above them. Oh, such a tricky but smart one. None of them could have the Green unless they were picked... the smile that had been on his face morphed into an amused sort of smirk. By being so far away, the more the Green was making him ache for him.

[Kisha-Ra]

Emerith sharply veered away from the river, she was tired of that boring path now. Turning to put the wind behind her for just a little more speed the green shot away, flying low over the open areas of the weyr before pulling up at the edge of the jungle, cutting it so fine that her tail ripped a few leaves from the tallest trees.

She stayed as low as she could, making a game of wits and risks in swerving around and rolling away from the branches of taller trees. Though in truth she was forced to give the trees quite a wide berth to avoid fouling he wings Emerith was cutting it as close as any dragon, except maybe smaller nimbler greens, would wish to.

All her tricks, relying as they did on speed and agility, were wearing Emerith’s normally amazing endurance down rapidly now. Her wings burned, soon, all too soon, she would need one of these fine dragons to hold her up (the avian had been dismissed from consideration after biting Ismaroth). It was such a hard choice.

O’dan smiled, a predatory little smile as his dragons arrived. He cocked his head and made a questioning little sound; Where had they all been? Didn’t they know he’d been waiting for them for soooo long? From the vantage point of his rock he examined the gathered riders. Did he have to choose only one?

[glamourie]

Oh he was a useful tool, he was. Fuzz kept her bill latched onto Ismaroth’s tail, oblivious to his attempts to thrash her off; being significantly less intelligent, she took the flailing as an attempt at giving her an enjoyable ride and decided that this brown was hers. He was much nicer, after all, than her green was. Her green never took her for rides. Maybe he’d take her to the shiny and then she’d have her nice brown and her shiny at the same time. That would be fabulous. She wanted badly to quack encouragingly to her nice-brown, but there was no way she could do that without releasing him and falling to the ground. That would be terrible. So it was that the duck kept silent, her gaze fixated on the glowing green form ahead of her free-ride. Who cared if there was water around her? Who cared if she was rapidly growing dizzy? Who cared indeed? She had a caught a brown. She was obviously the best collector in the lands.

Ciceroth’s gaze followed Emerith as she veered away from the river and he turned onto his side to follow her at a wide angle. His wings beat faster in order to keep up. He stayed high above, and it was a good thing, for as she flew close to the jungle, she veered up sharply. As it was, he had to angle himself in order to avoid colliding in the tree tops and his large wings beat once, twice, and then a third time before pulling him up high enough to be out of the danger zone and still following after the green who interested him so. As her tail broke through the leaves, several of them beat up toward him and were pushed back toward the ground and then behind by the force of his wings and his body barreling through the air; such a large creature moving so quickly always made an impact.

He couldn’t hope to follow her close to the trees. She was much smaller, more agile, than he was. Ciceroth was not as mobile as even a large brown. He was just too large to dart through the branches. It would’ve been suicide, and he knew better. To make up for his lack of following her in her show of grace, Ciceroth flew almost completely on his side, darting as best he could around the very tips of the tallest trees. It was far from as graceful as she was, but for a creature of his size, it could be impressive to behold. He wasn’t designed for the twists that the smaller colors pulled off with such ease. What he was designed for was strength -- and he wasn’t even beginning to tire. There was no sign of him slowing down in his flight, and when he whipped into a quick twist before flaring his wings to glide after her, it was with the same stamina as when the Flight first began. There were some perks to being such a large dragon.

On the ground, Ka’rys half-mimicked Ciceroth’s spin. To a casual viewer it probably would have seemed odd, to see the normally foul-tempered bronze rider twirling in the sand, barefoot and sopping wet. The show was not for the casual viewer though, it was for his clever green, perched on the rock as she was. Unaware of his own actions, he stalked across the sand, kicking it up around his feet in the process before rounding a wide circle of the rock. He was careful not to directly cross into the line of vision of the other Chasers, not wanting their attention on him (they were not worthy of his notice anyway) or to come too close. She would choose, she would; he didn’t need to try and bait her into picking him. He was the most lovely, didn’t she see? The movements made him distinctly resemble some kind of mountain feline, prowling back and forth patiently. All that he lacked was the claws.

[Rowana]

Garaeth banked sharply as Emerith changed course. It looked like she was going to let them off easy! Garaeth was delighted. The more fancy tricks his lovely green did, the more he swelled with the desire to chase her. She was like a dancing leaf on the wind! A green ribbon threading through the sky. He wished he could followed her all day!

The trees came closer and Garaeth rose slightly, giving them a slightly wider berth that Emerith. Now she was truly showing off the skills that only a green could possess. He whipped after her, working his wing muscle to their limits. It was now much clearer that he was larger than she, he could not get so close to the trees. But he did his best, blowing past the branches and scattering loose leaves behind him. He would not lose sight of her now!

T'ke prowled around the rock, staring hungrily up at O'dan. Other males had come now. There was competition. He longed to climb up after his prize, but he waited. If he moved now, he might be dismissed for his folly. He must be patient. Patience was how he would win this chase.