show me how you dance [zesa's flight]

[Rei]

The wild bronze drove himself after he striving to keep ahead of his competitors. The little brown and even the tiny bronze creature seemed to be getting more of her attention. He crooned to her as she dove into the jungle following closely. He picked the smallest holes between trees and vine to squeeze through, trying to impress her.

Witnessing her trick the bronze gave a appreciative bugle before trying it himself. Grabbing a branch in a tree close to hers in a similar fashion, he managed to whip himself around it once. Finding the momentum fun he pushed himself to ring the tree again, before letting himself plummet towards the ground. He snapped open his wings before impact and surged to follow her, scattering dry leaves and insects in the gusts from the wide membranes.

He bugled to her fleeing form ahead of him as she crooned, for his delay had cost him to lose his front runner position. He witnessed her dive and gave a confused warble as she pulled out. Was the beauty tired? The thought started the bronze’s own wings burning in protest but he steadfastly ignored them. He must be strong for her.

Diving for the crest of a wave he broke it with his bronze form sending water running down his hide. Breaking free from the wave, the bronze gave a final decorative twirl as he pushed himself up after her, gaining ground in a last ditch effort to sway her favor in his direction.

[hseru]

If anything, her personal touch at his mind and drop of approval was like a balm on the wild brown's burning lungs and slowly aching wings. He was getting tired, but he didn't want to give in, since he had her attention. He warbled his song to her, a caress of appreciation and want. By the time she dove for the jungle, he had made up much of his lost distance and momentum, gliding the last small stretches to save himself for the final laps. Her enticing call and diving form were all it took to have him following diligently behind, a brown streak in the air, those occasional wing flips keeping him on course.

When she paused in the air, he continued his downwards zoom past her at a distance, coming out of it in a large gentle loop that started well below her golden form and ended higher above her, briefly circling the object of his desire with a throaty chirp before she decided to make for the trees.

Tucking his wings, he finished his loop with a move much like the one he'd used at the top of the waterfall, letting gravity take him close to the apex with a little downwards thrust to help his speed. Coming into a low swoop, he watched his clever queen, cooing admiration for her agility. Well, he would be her dance partner. He had the advantage of watching the bronze do the move a second time before he reached the spot he sought and himself attempted it, using his smaller size to his advantage as he whipped around the same tree his queen had chosen with such speed that his short tail cracked audibly through the air. Instead of launching off into flight, he jumped from branch to branch, now using muscles that had rested during the rest of the flight. His jumps were long, and he snagged branches on the way back down, imitating the move again as he followed his queen, a flash in the green jungle.

With a final launch, he left the jungles, snapping his wings wide to catch an ocean updraft. Gaining only a little height, he called to her, then tucked his wings and turned a tight downwards spiral towards the water in her direction. Catching a wave with his legs, he sent the spray up around him, then briefly spiraled upwards in a reverse imitation of his earlier dive, the motion tight and controlled, but fast. The salty water on his hide spun off due to his velocity, shimmering around his small body.

With the little height he'd gained, he dove and streaked after the glittering gold, warbling his adoration for such a wonderful move, pumping his burning wings hard to follow her after her dive. He didn't have much more in him, but he kept up his ceaseless flying, his instincts telling him that this would be the final upwards lunge. He gave it his all, only just able to keep up with his queen despite how much slower she moved. He took the warning hiss to heart, keeping his distance behind her even if he could have gained on her, but still dogedly following.

[Kisha-Ra]

Imp trilled, overjoyed that his queen had singled him out for attention, he would definitely have to put everything he had left into this flight now! The salamandyr stretched himself into the most aerodynamic shape he could manage, pulling his legs and frill in as close as he could, for just a little more speed to follow her with.

Was she heading for the jungle again? Surely she wouldn’t drop below the canopy, she couldn’t finish her Flight there. Imp followed though, he would never fail to answer the call of a female so pretty as Zesa, and when she dropped he followed that as well, glad for a chance to catch his breath in the dive. Tricky queen! She grabbed a branch on the way down and used it to turn her fall into upward momentum. Very tricky. Imp overshot to make that manoeuvre but bounced off a lower level branch like he was made of rubber. He might be small but he wasn’t going to give up, especially after Zesa had paid special attention to him.

With his usual canny grasp of air current he followed Zesa over the beach, though he trailed a way behind her now, simply unable to make the speed in his mostly gliding flight. The dive he liked, dives were easy peasy compared to staying way up in sky for a long time and Imp was determined not to mess this one up. Imp dived at a more shallow angle than his queen but as swiftly as he could, enabling him to pull up without making a splash this time.

Zesa flew so low along the beach that Imp dropped all the way down and ran after her to ease the aches in his wings, he wasn’t used to Flights that lasted this long. She was slowing, and moving slowly upward. Imp had to get into the air again, she had to rise, and if he wanted to catch he he had to up there too. This time there were no convenient trees for his use, the salamandyr was forced to make do with a largish rock and put the effort of his wings into rising a ways before he could catch an updraft.

[dragon]

Storm swooped upward, and down again, following in an exuberant, exited sine wave to Zessa's flight over the river. And then up again, over the forest ... and down into it! As her other suitors made after her, down through the treetop and in, Storm tucked his wings and followed after, hoping to gain a little more ground, yet again. Surely she wasn't going to leave him behind that far!! He ripped through the canopy and down, just in time to see one, two, three, four ... more! Oh, gosh! Look at all that swinging around on branches! And they launched and moved on, even faster than before.

Storm was not nearly skilled enough in the air to managed that kind of trick ... not that he could anyway. He was just far enough behind to suddenly find himself in a flurry of whipping limbs that were swiftly returning to thier old positions in the jungle. Eyes wide, and adrenaline rushing, the young bronze gave a worried cheep as he tucked upward, dropped, spun sideways, and other such crazy, last minute maneuvers just to avoid being blendered by all the branches whipping past him at uncanny speeds. The sounds of the branches whistling through the air really scared him.

But in a mere few seconds, it was all over, and Storm came out the other side gasping with eyes like to pop out of his head. But ... he was there! Intact! Not a scratch on him, though with a heart racing like never before! Suddenly exited again, he gace a victory warble, twirled in the air, and shot after the flight again.

His energy, his excitement, and now the adrenaline rush of having not only survived, but having aced that gauntlet back there, Storm poured it all on, desperate to make up lost ground. As the flight sped toward the ocean, he did make up a lot of ground, arriving with the pack at the sparkling waters.

Storm cheeped happily as he caught sight of the one of his desires again, and crooned loudly, hoping to draw her attention. Had she seen him? Had she?! Yes? Yes?! As Zessa dove toward the water, Storm dove after her. But intending to stay above the water, he deliberately dove into it. He didn't pull out of the dive until he was a few feet under the surface of the water. Winging his way through the water, he grappled with the water with his feet even as he 'flew' through it, back toward the surface.

Erupting in a spray of glittering salt water, Storm crowed his victory: from his talons dangled a gift for Zessa. It was a short section of sea grass, and stuck to it on one spot was a shell ... a shiny white shell on one side, and metalic blues and pinks on the other side, the inside.

It slowed him down some, but at this part of the race, it wasn't really an issue. He was still abounding with energy as he followed her back into her slow climb. Here, being young was paying off in spades: he wasn't quite as tired as all the others yet, and adrenaline was only just now starting to creep back out of his system.

He warbled and sang, hoping to impress the lovely queen.

[Avu]

Now was the time for choosing; she could fly no longer. Zesa's wings ached, the vicious burning making each wingbeat a struggle. She could feel gravity pulling her back down towards her pursuers, but with a determined hiss, she pressed on. The one thing she absolutely would not stand for was to be accidentally Caught, no - not when she'd put so much effort into this second Flight. The queen's head whipped around, scanning the pursuers that still followed her. The choice would be one she had to make carefully, for there would be no going back once she Chose...this would be the male to sire her clutch, the male she fully expected to carry her when she fell. But which of them would it be? So caught up had the queen been in her Flight that she hadn't noticed, hadn't recognized, any of them as especially appealing to her - not in the sense that she was looking for.

The bronze Salamandyr. Imp, wasn't it? He was lovely and faithful, and it must have been terribly difficult for him to pursue her so far when the tricks she'd pulled were fit for only those with long wings capable of supporting themselves. Nonetheless, he'd done very well and Zesa recognized that, and she liked it. Really, she also appreciated his size. How nice it was, for him to be so small and yet so shiny...too small, though? And did he still have the strength, even now that she was faltering, her long wings failing her, to support her and dance with her as she desired?

The wild bronze. He had performed well, steadily, and had flown beautifully for her. He'd followed her obstacle course and even performed one trick twice, and had still managed to catch up to her. Difficult, that would be, and...but yet...he was wild, didn't look to anybody in the Weyr, and that made it very difficult for Zesa to fully approve of him. How would he dote on her after the Flight's end? How could he possibly watch over his clutch and truly father it as she desired? It was simply impossible for a wild flitter...

The wild brown. He was the underdog, well and truly, the smallest fire lizard and the lesser color, and perhaps the fact that he was brown would have made many a gold disregard him as unworthy - and yet - her first mate had been, by choice, a brown, and Jabari had proved himself a lovely, lovely dancer. Oh, yes, she remembered and liked her brown ex-mate. Perhaps too much, for it was difficult not to imagine the wild brown as Jabari - and why wasn't her brown dancer, her lovely, there? If she couldn't have Jabari, did she really, truly want another brown? What if he wasn't as good a dancer as her brown had been?

And then Storm. The youngest, perhaps the strongest in that youthfulness, he was...but he had been late. Oh, so late, completely missing the first tangled weave through the jungles and joining her only afterwards. While Zesa supposed this was clever in that he spared his own energy, that still meant that she did not get to test him fully. It made the competition unfair, and she didn't like that. But what part of the Flight he had participated in, he'd done quite well for such a young, inexperienced thing...and he was offering her a present, even now. A lovely little shell. But did it really make up for his lateness?

Her wings throbbed warningly, and at the arc of her rise, Zesa let out a last defiant warble at the sun that she had managed to outshine and outfly, and then doubled back along her own length, diving among the males, her body pointed directly at her Chosen, streamlined, wings tucked against her sides as she crashed into him, refusing to open her own wings. She was his now, and he had to catch her, after all. Twisting her neck and tail around his with a soft encouraging croon in his ear, Zesa latched tightly onto the male, lidding her eyes lightly as her free foreclaw, the one not clinging to the soft hide, gently took the section of sea grass and the gleaming shell from Storm. Her Storm, her lovely bronze mate, and the only one she would dance with today.

[dragon]

Storm crooned to her as she twined with him, spreading his young wings wide and lifting Zessa higher on the warm air rising over the water. Thrilled to be chosen, the young bronze carried her high on strong wings. He let her have the weed and shell, happy that she wanted it as well.

Heart singing with joy and happiness, Storm carried his golden Queen true.