Kindred Spirits

Writers: Anaria, Avery
Date Posted: 7th July 2014

Characters: Kapera, Naika
Description: Naika helps Kapera washing Riyanth, and the two hatch a plan
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 8, day 2 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentor Approved, Emma

Kapera

Finally Naika had a free moment. It felt to her like she was constantly
busy, never having a spare moment to do anything that she wanted to do
anymore. Still, it was worth it for the chance to one day be a
dragonrider. She was relaxing on the sands of the weyrlake, when she
noticed Kapera washing her gold, Riyanth. She hadn't gotten the
opportunity to see a gold up close and personal, and she remembered that
someone had said riders were always looking for a helping hand to wash
their dragon.

Standing up, Naika brushed the sand from her posterior, then walked over
to where Riyanth was. "My duty to you and your queen," Naika said,
dipping her head down as she approached. As she caught a glimpse of
Kapera, a profound sense of inadequacy struck her. Not only was Kapera a
goldrider, but a positively gorgeous one. Naika fought the urge to turn
green with envy.

}:I hope that that person is here for me.:{ Riyanth said wistfully as
she saw someone heading towards them. She did enjoy letting people learn
to wash her.

**What person?** Kapera turned her head, and saw a Candidate coming
over. "Oh, are you here to help me out?"

"Yeah, if that's alright with you," Naika responded, suddenly feeling a
bit nervous. "My name is Naika, I'm a candidate." Now standing much
closer to Riyanth, her eyes widened a bit. "Gold dragons really are a
good bit larger when you're close up like this."

"They are, aren't they?" Kapera couldn't hide the fond smile at the

thought of her lifemate. "It's much easier to wash a gold with help, so
I'd be happy for your aid. It's also good practice for this upcoming
clutch, in case you Impress."

She pointed to the sweetsand and brooms. "You're welcome to either her
head and forelimbs, or her tail. She's very protective of her belly and
back legs." it came from the accident, the silvery scars of which were
still visible. It had been a terrible contest of wills every time she'd
needed to be bathed.

Since she knew that she would one day need to stare down a gold dragon
on the Hatching Sands, Naika decided to get acclimated with the head of
one who wasn't presently in "mama dragon" mode. Grabbing a handful of
sweetsand and a broom, she walked over to Riyanth's left forelimb, and
began scrubbing away. "It's still so surreal seeing dragons everywhere
you go," she said. "I've only been here a sevenday, so I haven't quite
gotten used to it yet."

The Candidate went towards the front, which spoke well for her. Kapera
liked those that weren't scared of the dragons - otherwise, why were you
Standing?

"It's quite a sight. And it looks different at every Weyr. At
Dragonsfall, the dragons are bright spots of color against stone and
snow. There's a lot more color here at Dolphin Cove - the sea, the beach
sand, the forest."

"Wow, dragons in the snow," Naika said. "I've never even _seen_ snow
before, but I imagine it's beautiful." She scrubbed away, careful not to
miss any spots. As she neared Riyanth's feet, she said, "Dragons aren't
ticklish are they?" The last thing she wanted to do was accidentally
tickle a gold dragon.

"She isn't where you are. As a hatchling, she was - but I probably
shouldn't tell you that." Kapera had a laugh in her voice as she patted
the gold's flank. "Where ar you from, another tropical environment?"

"Most recently the Harper Hall, before that a cothold not terribly far
away," she said. "If I Impress, the first place I'm going is High
Reaches so I can see the snow capped mountains there. She grinned at
Riyanth, before moving the broom down to start scrubbing at her feet.
"So where did you grow up?" Naika asked, trying to be polite, then
realizing that it might not be appropriate to ask a goldrider such a
question, as it was rather casual. "Um, I mean, if you don't mind saying."

"Small hold. Grew redfruit. Got Searched, got out of there. It was
really nice."

}:Tell her she can scrub a little harder.:{

"Also, she says you can scrub a little harder. And you could ask for a
ride to go see mountains with snow. In fact, the Barrier Ranges have
some too - Garnet Valley has a lot."

"Ah, redfruit," Naika said, grinning. "Are you still able to eat them
now, or are you sick to death from having them, all the time." She
reached out to scratch one of Riyanth's eye ridges, and scrubbed harder
as requested. It amazed her that dragon hide was so strong, yet at the
same time so soft.

"I could ask someone to take me away from the Weyr?" She knew that older
weyrlings often had duties like ferrying around Lord Holders and such,
but the thought that a candidate could just make friends with a rider,
ask to go somewhere, and then just be there in an instant... it was
fascinating and exciting to her.

"You can certainly ask. As a candidate, you're somewhat low priority,
but it's not impossible if you know someone sympathetic."

She added "find someone sympathetic" to her to do list. "What would you
recommend someone who is new to the Weyr do that they might not have
been able to do in the holds or halls?" she asked. She had no idea how
long she'd be staying at Dolphin Cove, and she didn't want to miss out
on anything. "Outside of washing dragons, that is," she joked.

There were several suggestions, but what was appropriate for a candidate?
Kapera knew what she'd chosen to do as soon as she got there. But she
found herself wanting to be a good example for the candidates, even if she
didn't really know how.

"Look at some of the other options besides being a wife and mother," the
goldrider finally said. "You were at the Hall as an apprentice?"

Little did Kapera know that Naika had been spending her precious free
time trying to do exactly what the goldrider had strayed away from
mentioned. "Yes, I wanted to be a writer. You have to be a journeywoman
to specialize, though, and I'm a few turns between since I was just a
paid student at first. Even now as an apprentice they tend not to let me
do anything fun. And I can't print and of the _interesting_ books
because they "aren't appropriate for a girl."

"At least you have some experience of the Crafter life. That's often what
I suggest for holder girls who haven't gotten that far, that they consider
if they want a craft. The ones who run away from the idea, they don't
normally adjust too well." She'd learned that much from watching their
clutches.

"Wait, what interesting books?" she asked after a moment. "I'm sure _some_
of them they let girls prints."

"Oh, yeah. The history books, and etiquette books, and some of the
fiction stories. Just not the ones that have any romance scenes, or
racier moments," Naika said. "I know they exist; I've come across them
while we were working on projects in the past and someone left them
sitting out."

Finishing one forelimb, Naika moved over to the next, and set to work
once more. "My Da always told me that sex was for making babies, and
that I wasn't going to enjoy it, but I had to tolerate it. Well, these
books I've seen show women actually pursuing men to have sex with
because they like it so much. I'm not sure who to believe, so I'm
definitely going to try and find a few men to give it a try." She
paused for a moment to look at Kapera. "You don't know any men with
low standards, do you?"

"Oh, I love the racy romance novels," Kapera confessed. "I always have to
pick some up at Gathers."

The sheer way the candidate phrased the last line startled a legitimate
laugh out of the goldrider. "I _like_ you. Don't take this the wrong way,
but I really hope you Impress to one of Riyanth's, not Panitath's."

}:I hope so as well,:{ the gold said, turning and craning so her head
looked at the candidate.

"She thinks so too," Kapera added. "As for your question, I've only been
here a few days more than you. But there's a brownrider named R'tule who
told me he's very popular with the ladies."

Naika's face flushed a bit at the vote of confidence from both Kapera
and Riyanth. "T-thank you," she stammered out after a moment. Then she
had a moment to digest the rest of what Kapera had said. "R'tule, eh?"
She put her harper's memory to work with that name. Reaching out with
one hand, she scratched one of Riyanth's eye ridges as she'd heard
dragon's liked.

"I hope I Impress one of your hatchlings too, Riyanth." Not that she
would complain if one of Panitath's clutch found her suitable.

Riyanth let out a deep crooning sound when the Candidate scratched her
ridges, lids dropping over her eyes in pleasure. }:I do like this one.:{

Kapera let out a little laugh. "So I've heard, anyway. And if he's not
good with you, you let me know."

"You know," Naika said, having an epiphany, "I still have some bound
books from the Harper Hall with blank pages, they're meant to be used as
journals. But maybe we could pass one around between a few of the more
interesting women at the Weyr. We can put the names of the men we bed,
with details on their strengths and weaknesses." She grinned wickedly,
proud of her own idea.

"That's an enterprising plan," the goldrider said with a conspiratorial
grin. "I think it would be fun. We can figure out who to pass it on to
together."

In that moment, spurred by the candidate's creativity, she didn't look
like the picture of a sober and tough weyrwoman. She looked like a
gossiping young girl having a conversation.

Naika grinned wickedly, glad to have a partner in crime. And a partner
in crime that was a goldrider at that! "I hope I don't Impress this
clutch," she declared. "Because there are far too many attractive men at
this Weyr that I need to bed before I can be bothered with Weyrlinghood!"

Kapera grinned. "That's the spirit."

Last updated on the July 15th 2014

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