Morning has broken into several parts (open)

[Kisha-Ra]

The sun was just slinking over the horizon, the sky was slowly lightening, and the clouds burned in bright but highly tasteless colours. The early morning was still and silent, a small touch of perfection in a troubled world.

That was until two streaks of green shot by, squealing and and scolding at the tops of their lungs to splash into the river where they continued their squabbling with the addtion of much splashing.

R’aro, moving at a more sedate pace along with his young bronze dragon Idith and Insi, his third, smallest, and least troublesome green firelizard, sighed. ‘Would it really hurt you two to be nice, or at least civil to each other? Hmmmm?’ He asked Jinka and Telba exasperatedly, even though they never listened to him. Idith had a simpler way to deal with the troublesome two and waded into the water, deftly flipping his tail between the two flitters and lashed it once, drenching them, and his rider with chilly river water.

‘Thanks Idith.’ R’aro said a bit sourly, fishing through Idith’s bath things with one hand while Insi scuttled down his other arm and ran off to splash into the river. ‘Lets get this caravan on the road.’ He said as he came up with the brush he wanted and waded into the river to apply it to Idith’s hide.

[antinanco]

It was the overwhelming sense of longing that first tipped off Rinnel to another’s presence. The feeling wasn’t his, he already knew: it was Risk’s. And that only meant one thing: there was a, if not many, handsome males around,

Why did this always happen inbetween shifts? All he had been trying to do was get from the northern Watch Point to the Handler’s apartments. But, that route also took him by the communal bathing pools and the river bank, which meant that he often caught an early Weyrbird washing in the dusky light. Rinnel sighed and kicked at a rock, sending Risk chasing after the tumbling pebbles. He remembered what happened most recently when he had tried to shrug off Risk’s emotions. Maybe in he just stopped in and said a quick hello then the green would be appeased.

But as the two neared the source of the scent, Rinnel could just about make out the form of a young bronze and his rider. Shells! This was going to be harder, much harder. The horde of green flitters didn’t help much either. Inhaling deeply in preparation, Rinnel stepped up to the edge and called, “’Morning, early birds! Mind if we join you? My wher has needed a bath for a while now and I think there’s just enough time before daylight if we hurry.”

Then, without waiting for an answer, the man stripped to his undergarments and begun wading into the water. By that time, however, Risk was far ahead of him, already treading water alongside the bronze and crooning a flirtatious greeting to him and his rider. Both were very handsome, causing her eyes to swirl a familiar violet, and it was only Rinnel’s mental tension that kept her from leaping atop the two of them in a lascivious wrestle. The handler blushed with the recoil sensation and tried not to make eye contact.

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[Kisha-Ra]

Footsteps and scattering stones alerted R’aro to another presence, which he ignored, probably some weyrbrat or drudge out on an early errand, or maybe on of the new weyrlings chased out of bed early by his or her dragonet. Whatever. R’aro thought nothing more of it as he worked down Idith’s shoulder and the bronze leaned into the brush strokes happily.

R’aro’s head snapped up and he pressed close to Idith’s bulk involuntarily as a distinctly male voice cut into his thoughts. For a moment he panicked but quickly fought down the impulse to flee. It was getting ridiculous, he needed to calm down, it was just a wherhandler come to wash his wher before the sun got all the way up. R’aro stood up straighter and stepped away from Idith, giving the bronze a reassuring pat on the neck that he didn’t really need. ‘Hello. Sorry I seem to be a little jumpy this morning.’ R’aro attempted to cover for himself and quickly turned his attention from the handler to the wher.

She’s a funny little green. I like her, she has very good taste in males.[/color] Idith commented on the wher, cheerfully posing for her and lowering his head to bat his eyes at her in an imitation of human flirting that looked quite absurd on the multi lidded dragon eye. ‘I like her too Idith.’ R’aro agreed with his dragon aloud so the wher would know he appreciated her. I grew up around whers. He told Idith privately. I was sent away from home to bond with a wher or not bother coming back. Idith poked R’aro in the chest with his muzzle, sending his chosen staggering back a few paces. You don’t need to go back now, you have me.[/color] R’aro agreed wordlessly and wholeheartedly with his dragon.

R’aro turned back to the wher, she was so much easier to pay attention to than her handler, and bent down for a better look at her. ‘Yes you’re very pretty aren’t you?’ he asked the green, holding out a hand above her head so he could rub her eyeridges if she chose. R’aro doubted there’d ever been a dragon, wher, or firelizard that didn’t like their eyeridges rubbed.

[antinanco]

Risk was in heaven. First the very, very handsome bronze struck a handsome pose for her, even if the eye-battering was a bit absurd. She snorted delightedly and craned her bulging neck as best she could in her own little feminine pose. Risk liked.

Then, to the green’s utter enjoyment, the handsome man complimented her and reached out to rub her eyeridges. But then he stopped! She blew air into the water and produced and interesting gurgling noise, annoyed. Was this his was of playing hard to get? Well, Risk could play that game too! Floating closer to the handsome bronze, she began nuzzling his glimmer hide, keeping one amused turquoise eye on R’aro the entire time. Didn’t this look fun? Wasn’t he jealous? She bet he wanted to come over and get nuzzled like this. She knew she would!

“She thinks you’re playing hard to get,” Rinnel sighed rather forlornly as he suddenly appeared next to the Weyrling, looking off into the bushes as if he was the only one in the waters. His cheeks blushed a brilliant cherry red at the shared flirtatious feelings and his muscled arms were crossed against his chest in an act of guarding himself. “Could you just, ah… pet her and get on with it? She won’t settle down ‘til you do,” he grumbled, throwing R’aro as close as an apologetic look as he ever threw, “I’m Rinnel, by the way. And that’s Risk.” He jerked a thumb over at the wher in question, who was currently rubbing Idith in an overly exaggerated way. At least the flitters weren’t acting up, Rinnel admitted with another sigh.

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[Kisha-Ra]

Idith rumbled, amused by the green wher’s game. You should have paid more attention to her R’aro. She likes me better now. That’s not surprising considering how much more likable than you I am.[/color] The dragon leaned toward the wher exaggerating his enjoyment of her attention, they would make R’aro jealous together. He likes your kind little cousin.[/color] Idith confided privately to the green.

R’aro rolled his eyes at Idith’s antics, leave it to his dragon to play silly flirting games with a pretty green wher! He jumped as the wherhandler appeared next to him and spoke again, then mentally kicked himself for not paying enough attention, though for some reason Rinnel seemed as uncomfortable as R’aro, in a different way. ‘I’m R’aro, Risk’s new biggest admirer s called Idith.’ R’aro introduced himself then used the suggestion that he pet Risk to move away.

‘What do you want Risk?’ R’aro teased. ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ He held an inquisitive pose for a moment, then laughed and gave in, approaching the wher and giving her eyeridges a good rub. ‘You are a pretty little wher, but you already that didn’t you?’ R’aro mumbled complimentary nonsense to Risk and Idith rumbled some more. See? I told you he likes you.[/color] Idith told Risk cheerfully.

Jinka took one look and ignored Risk, silly big ugly green, she could keep the big one, he was bossy, very bossy and far too big to flirt with properly, Jinka would wash, be pretty, and find a much better male than Idith. Telba noted Jinka’s curiosity and took a look of her own, big but not as big as Idith, not very interesting, what was Jinka up to? She looked sneaky… Insi chirped brightly and swam towards Idith’s tail. With a bit of effort she climbed up his tail and ran over to his shoulder for a better look at Risk. Oh she was one of those, not many of those now. Interesting…

[antinanco]

In response to Idith’s conversation Risk had no mind-speak of her own, but she did reply with an overwhelming sensation of agreement. Also, he smelt of earthly, natural tones. She liked his kind too.

Then he came over, complimented her more and finally rubbed her eye ridges. Risk purred throatily and leaned into the good scratch. Soon Rinnel appeared again, though still shying away from most physical contact and not looking particularly thrilled by any means, and he began rubbing down one of the green’s sides with a handfull of sand dredged from the riverbed. Risk crooned estatically and turned to look at her handsome hers, but something else caught her interest. There was a little green cousin perching upon the handsome bronze cousin, staring at her rather openly.

Under normal circumstances Risk wouldn’t have minded the flitter, but all the attention she was hording was making her rather selfish. How dare the green try to butt in on her handsomes like that! Twisting in the water and clamouring onto Idith’s haunches, Risk snapped at Insi, blocky maw just inches from the fire lizard.

“Risk!” Rinnel barked, grabbing her stubby tail as it whisked past him. If he hadn’t knabbed it and dug his heels into the Sand as he had now, then perhaps Risk might have actually gotten her flitter-flavored desires. But he had learned from previous encounters like this and was alert, throwing R’aro an angry glance and snapping, “M’sorry, but you know how whers are.” Risk had told him, had she not? “Instinctive. Mind calling your flitter off?”

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[Kisha-Ra]

R’aro laughed a bit at Risk’s clear enjoyment of all the attention she was getting, the green was clearly one of those whers that loved to be touched. R’aro backed off and went back to scrubbing Idith as Rinnel came over and took up scrubbing his wher, noting that once again the wherhandler seemed uncomfortable.

R’aro was used to Insi being into everything he was doing and paid her no attention as he continued to wash his dragon, except to avoid scrubbing at her. However it seemed Risk didn’t like Insi at all as the wher scrambled onto Idith, startling the bronze immobile, and snapped at the deformed firelizard. Insi shrieked like a dying thing and dived off Idith’s shoulders, Rinnel yanked Risk back by her tail, and Idith stood up on his hind legs fanning his wings for balance and showering everyone with water as he did so. ‘Enough!’ R’aro bellowed as Jinka and Telba came rushing back to see what the fuss was. ‘More than enough.’ He added fishing Insi out of the water. ‘She missed you, stop the noise. Idith put all of your feet back down and tell the girls to go back to our weyr.’

Idith dropped back to all fours contritely. Go back little ones.[/color] he commanded putting the idea of safety in the weyr into the minds of the firelizards, who promptly vanished much to everyone’s relief. ‘I don’t know most of the whers back home ignored flitters, but then they were used to them I suppose since the whole camp was infested with varying degrees of winged nuisance.’ R’aro mused aloud once things were back under control with the absence of his firelizards.

[antinanco]

Thankfully the combined efforts of Rinnel’s mental and physical yanking and Idith’s volley of water seemed to calm Risk down, and she took to laying in the water, brooding, with only her head floating above the surface. “Tsk, always have to make things hard, don’t ya?” Rinnel spat to the side with hands on his hips. Now that the flow of lustful emotions had ceased, the handler was able to fully inspect the Weyrling without any unwanted side-effects. He eyed him for a minute tentatively, then frowned.

“Oh no, you’re right, she should absolutely be adjusted to flitters by now,” Rinnel grunted, giving one final yank on Risk’s tail before letting go, “Sometimes she gets a little possessive, though. Some days she’s fine, some days she’s not.” The man sighed and dipped underwater for another handful of sand, his last one having been dropped in the ensuing chaos. “Y’can never tell with her. That’s why I have such a hard time handling her.” He began rubbing sand into Risk’s eye ridges and deformed head-knobs, running over her lucky tunnelsnake-eyes without pausing. “Some people say it’s ‘cause I’m a bad handler, but she’s so shelled unpredictable! And it’s not even like we have a strong bond, which helps. I mean, the only less bonded name she could have picked would be Rrrr-sk!” What had started out as an apologetic explanation turned into a full-blown rant fueled by Risk’s broodiness. Rinnel rubbed the Sand harder and harder into Risk, whose lids were now nearly closed over rich, forest green eyes. “If it weren’t for the sharding war, I could’ve stood and Impressed! Everybody knew I was going to get bronze! My father was a bronzerider, for Faranth’s sake! But instead I got stuck with a horny green wher! And now I spend my days as nights sitting around like some lowly bump on a log when others are out there fighting for what they believe in and losing their lives!”

Rinnel threw his sand down in disgust, and Risk was suddenly snapped awake, now feeling the waves of anger rolling off of her handler like a tsunami. Her head raised out of the water slightly, and she looked at him with pink eyes: a mix of red for shared anger and white for shocked caution. At this, the man slumped visibly, all the pent up frustration gone. “I’m sorry, you didn’t need to hear that,” he apologized forlornly, and disappeared underwater for a third time as he retrieved another handful of sand. It was getting late—or early, he supposed—and if he didn’t finish soon then Risk would be exposed to painful daylight.

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[Kisha-Ra]

It was odd but despite Rinnel’s ranting the wherhandler seemed more comfortable now, had he been embarrassed by Risk’s behaviour? Well R’aro had plenty to say about Rinnel’s subject but he wasn’t about to interrupt, that could start an argument he didn’t want to have.

‘You know it’s ironic meeting you.’ R’aro mused and dipped for a handful of sand himself. ‘I come from a mining camp originally and I was sent away to get a wher, then I was supposed to go back and mine.’ R’aro rolled his eyes to express his thoughts on mining. ‘Anyhow I hoped to bond and maybe get a position in a hold. I only came to the Weyr because of a wher clutch and I only stood at the dragon hatching because I didn’t have anything to lose, and along came Idith. I sometimes think I’m messing it all up though.’ R’aro stared pensively at the sky then began applying his sand to Risk, hoping neither wher nor handler would object to his assistance.

‘You know you shouldn’t worry about how closely bonded you are,’ R’aro said suddenly, ‘Not when it’s obvious how much she loves you. I don’t think the name thing is always true anyway. I knew a wher with only one letter of his handler’s name and they got along well enough to warn everyone about bad air and cave ins.’

Idith stretched himself out to a floating position, not resenting Risk at all, there was all day for R’aro to wash him but Risk would soon be hurt by the rising sun, it was a sad thing really, Idith thought generously, everyone should see the sun, the world was best in the day.

[antinanco]

“Messing what up? Messing up being a sooty recluse who works for stuffy, corrupt Holders?” Rinnel scoffed, automatically moving down Risk’s body to make room for R’aro, “No, you’ve got it all here! Without riders, no one on Pern would be able to live. Including miners, the moles they are. And you’re the best of the best! A bronzerider!” Even the man could not deny the admiration in his tone and gained a far-away look in his eyes, “Noble Kings who choose to use their immense power to lead brothers into battle and to protect the masses! You’re basically handed a Wingleader position as a bronze, nevermind Second. And even Weyrleader! Your future is so bright!”

Yes, that was a pun, and Rinnel indicated it by glancing at the rising sun that he was always hiding from. “Whers and their handlers… all we’re good for are little obedient watchdogs or caged canaries that are a dime in a dozen. Nobody cares if we die.” Risk snorted sadly, sharing his regret but rubbing up against his leg in reassurance. He was almost done, keep going. Just one itchy spot right… there! The green sighed and floated over to the banks, declaring her retreat from the waking world. She was tired. Dropping his sand to the water for a final time, her handler turned to the Weyrling and caught his eye contact for the first time that morning.

“Think about it.” Rinnel nodded curtly to the bronzerider as a farewell, and partially out of respect. He usually didn’t like pompous riders, but this one seemed to be okay. He even liked whers, the crazy bastard. Turning around, the handler tagged after Risk as she crooned for him anxiously, glancing at the rising run. He could already feel his own eyes begin to water. With a brisk wave we gathered his cloths and took off for the barracks to again hide from the sun in his dark little hole in the ground.

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