Tzeado, male, 6’2”, 200 strongly muscled, aged 21 turns.

With very short cropped light brown hair, striking dark blue eyes, and fair skin, Tzeado has a very ruggedly handsome face and form. He wears complimentary tan and cream colored clothing, more to keep himself neutral looking than to show himself off. While he is extremely charismatic and enjoys company, he values his privacy as well, and certainly if he is working on something it is a good idea to keep clear of him. He is quite single minded, and has a dominant ability to sense animals and fire lizards. He uses the fire lizards natural warnings which bounce freely through his mind to keep him abreast of Threadfall. Tzeado works the ground crew with a flame thrower and has made certain improvements on it in his shop. As a Senior Apprentice to the Caledrus Smithcrafter, he is allowed to use the rare tooling machines and press interesting new metal works. If Tzeado has any failings, either mental or emotional, it is perhaps only his short temper. He is often followed by a faire of fire lizards, though two of them do call him master, both brown, named Julius and Jackie.

These are Julius and Jackie

Julius was from Silvermoon weyr, and Jackie from Emerald. Neither weyr exists any longer.

-- Later pairs up with Aaryea when their dragons mate, has two children with her, Ryzo and Azaeda

It was a busy day at Caledrus. Not only was it pouring rain outside, but there was a supply caravan having traveled through Alabaster's territory and was heading to its Hold destinations now. Dozens of people down in the lower Hold had been there to help, while Tzeado had heard they'd brought few smithy supplies. He didn't feel as though he was either needed or wanted for helping there - he had his own work to do.

He pushed the bellows for the master Smith, who held a set of tongs at arm's length and brought out a white-hot piece of metal. The pair then began hammering on it, it would take both their efforts to make a large piece like this. One of the riders had comissioned a metal insert to a harness, something which would be then covered in padding, leather and other materials to keep it from freezing and being brittle when heading between. The harness was meant to support supplies, to make it easier to strap onto for transport.

It was actually a clever design, Tzeado thought - and he wondered why the Caledrus forge was asked to do it, instead of the Alabaster group. They did after all have access to better materials and workmanship. It was long a goal of the smith that he could work with those men and women. He respected their work.

His master saw that Tzeado had the strength and sense to become a master smith himself. But also, he worried. Because Tzeado was heavily empathic, and that would some day mean that he'd be Searched and taken away to a weyr.

His two flitters, Julius and Jackie, were always about - this day they had settled onto the rafter and were joined by half a dozen others that would flock around Tzeado. Sometimes they were a nuisance, today they were merely company. Their little eyes watched the pair of smithies until the metal had cooled too much to work.

"I think this is enough for today, Tzeado," the mastersmith said. "Why not clean up and head to dinner. I'll get this place settled and shoo away the flitters myself."

Tzeado laughed a bit, and called his pair down to his side. "Thanks. It will turn out right," Tzeado said, looking at the shape of the metal sheet. "It's already halfway there. We're going to be finished tomorrow at this rate."

"As long as I can get the welding in," the master said. "Anyway - here's a couple marks, we got a few in from that load of stakes and hinges we finished up last sevenday."

Smiling, Tzeado acceped the pair of marks, and headed up the inclined walkways toward his dorm, and put on clean clothing. It wouldn't do to come in to the main dining hall smelling like the forge. Once there, he helped himself to stew and greens, and a large portion of mashed tubers - they always helped him regain his strength after a day like today.

He was busy eating when a raven-haired young woman arrived at his table, she was talking loudly to someone across the room as she did so.

"Of course, it runs in the family." She sought out the company of the smithcrafter's best apprentice, Tzeado. "Could you send one of those annoying things down to the caravan and see if he can't find Ratar?"

Tzeado, with his pair of brown fire lizards Julius and Jackie upon either of his wide shoulders, rolled his jaw around. The girl was a demanding one, but one he was well familiar with. Zoorita was her name, and she was known around the place as a bit of a dangerous girl.

"Of course I can. But if I will, that's another question." He replied, deep voice keeping Zoorita's smile wide. "Go on," he urged Julius. The darker of the pair of browns lept off his shoulder and went between, while the other clung on and picked at the hem of the smithy's tunic. "Why do you need him all of a sudden? Can't find anyone else to play with you and your knives?"

Zoorita grinned a sinister smirk and only laughed. "Of course not. That's a nasty rumor. Besides," she drew her hand across Tzeado's wide chest, "when you're here it's impossible to even think of another."

"That is true," he said, offhand and in jest. When he turned around to find a mug for wine, a drudge ran directly into the man's bulk. "You dimglow! Look where you're going!"

He was angered quickly, he'd almost gotten a whole tray of sweet sticky cakes tossed onto his clean clothing. Zoorita held on to Tzeado's work-hardened arm and pulled herself in front of him, between he and the drudge.

"Easy - it was just an accident," she said, her voice low and warning him. It was true, it was just an accident, and not worth his time to punish the drudge. After all, he did have work to do and others wanted those cakes.

"Why won't he apologize?" Demanded Tzeado, after a moment, and the drudge stood looking fearful before them.

"Because he is unable to speak," Zoorita said, sharply. "He's been in the infirmary recently and some Holder before he came here had done something to his throat. He's unable - it's obvious he's sorry. Leave him be."

At last defused, Tzeado found himself another plate and a large mug of ale. Others in the Hold were more tolerant of the lowest born drudges, but not him. They were unable to work to advance themselves, and it seemed he just held that against them. It wasn't hard - his own father instilled that into him. They couldn't have afforded a drudge without the work that he did in the mines, and the drudges were there to serve.

His wandering look told Zoorita that he was best left alone, now. Fortunately, though, Ratar and Julius appeared through the dinner crowd shortly. "I'll see you around, keep yourself healthy," the healer woman said. Her brother watched Tzeado warily, they weren't the very best of friends.

***

All his life, fire lizards and other animals had seemed to enjoy flocking around Tzeado. That was a disaster while he was still living at home, his mother was terrified of the little lizards, for some reason she never wanted to elaborate upon. So it was that when Tzeado was around twelve, just before he was going to become an apprentice smithcrafter, he had to hide the eggs which he'd managed to find at a gather day.

It was almost like she was allergic to them. When he smuggled the eggs in, under his shirt, it was only his clever ability to talk a wild streak over her questioning that saved the eggs. She was about to pat him down when he pointed at the sky and said, "there were dragons! Three of them!" It was true, but it wasn't the highest point of his day. He didn't mind elaborating on it though, as a distraction. "And they came to trade, and I think they were from Alabaster! One was really big, and the others were really small - I think a couple people even got Searched."

"You weren't Searched, were you?" His mother said, warily. "Were you?"

"... No, no I wasn't, I didn't see who got searched, I just heard about it. ... I'm really tired, mom, can I take a rest now?"

"Yes, you've had a long day," she said, comfortingly. There was still an edge in her voice, but she sent her son up to his room and left him to his own devices.

There, he put the two eggs into a small stone box, he didn't have sand for them, and packed a cloth around them. Then he put that into a nook nearest his fire. That would work, he was sure. It would keep them warm, and no one ever moved anything in his room, so they should remain undisturbed.

A few days later, when the Smith's main assistant had come with a cart to pick up Tzeado, his mother and he were packing his belongings up. She was not quite teary-eyed, but her eldest son was on his way up in the world. She was very proud.

"You don't need that, just take what the man can hold on his cart!" She said, sharply, when he reached for the warm stone box.

"But it's mine!" Tzeado said, defensively. "I want to keep it with me."

"It's just a box, Tzeado, and it's a heavy one at that, and I hardly think the man wants such heavy things on the journey. What if there is Threadfall! It'll only slow you down!" She reached for the box again, and again Tzeado pulled it away from her.

"It's not a big box, it's just a little thing, and besides it's got -" he froze up, something was happening.

"It has what!?" His mother demanded. "What does it have?"

He turned, halfway away from her, keeping his already-broad shoulder between she and the box. "It's got my eggs in it," he said, quietly, "and they're hatching."

"They - are - what?" She said, stiffening up and narrowing her eyes.

"Hatching! My flitter eggs are hatching!" He cried out, angry. "See! I got them at the gather, and I know you don't like them, but I'm not even going to be here any more. I will be keeping them!"

"Then get them OUT of here," she said, not quite subdued, but still coldly.

"They'll need to be fed," said the smith's assistant, who was standing in the doorway. "I heard something going on, sorry for the intrusion. But if you want to keep those flits from flying away, you'll have to feed 'em."

"Thanks -" Tzeado rushed out into the kitchen, and hurriedly stuffed a wad of smoked meat into his shirt pocket. He still cradled the box in one arm, and glared at his mother over it. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but you'd only have told me to get rid of them, and I bought them with my own money. And besides, I like them - they like me."

"You... just go and do well," his mother finally said, her face softening but her back still stiff in the presence of the flitters in their box. "I am sorry I frightened you about them. Just... keep them away from me, all right?"

"Okay mother," Tzeado said, both their tempers had obviously gotten the better of them. The smith's assistant had helped load the rest of the boy's goods onto the cart, and they headed away shortly. Tzeado looked back a couple times, but then the flitters eggs broke up to show off two distinctly different browns. They both creeled but walked up to his shoulders and snuggled under his ears - they ate, but it seemed only an afterthought to them.

"They sure do like you," said the smithy. "I wonder why your mother's all bothered like that about them?"

"I don't know, she wouldn't speak about it," Tzeado said. "But, I think they're just fine. Look, there are a couple wild ones."

Those wild flitters came to rest on the tack of their cart, and soon numbered in the dozen or more range.

"You sure attract those things," muttered the man. They finally cleared the mining hold's range, and after another three days travel, reached Caledrus and the Master Smith.

***

The supply harness went together flawlessly, Tzeado and his master worked all day on it until they'd almost exhausted themselves as well as their supply of firestone for the forge. Small pieces had to be worked individually and Tzeado handled those, while the big ones were welded together by the master smith. They would hand it off to the dragonriders who comissioned it, who would probably be sending it off to a leathersmith sooner or later.

Tzeado sleped soundly that night, and he wasn't required to show up the next day - it wasn't an official rest day, but he and the master agreed they both earned the day off. Tzeado went up to the communal baths, and took a long hot soak in one of the pools. The big fault line that Caledrus Hold was built in, was part of a larger volcanic fault, everyone knew that, but he was keenly aware of how convienent it was to have hot springs like this in the middle of a chasm like Caledrus.

"Well well," said Ratar as he glided in - filthy as usual from his work with the animals of the Hold - "look what the flitters dropped on us..."

"Funny," Tzeado said. "Look what the donkey kicked out of his stall. Did you get any sleep, or were you-"

"Shut it," Ratar said, darkly. He eased into the pool, well away from the larger more muscular Tzeado. "Besides, you smell as much as I do, most days. Don't knock my work. I don't knock yours."

"Only my firelizards," Tzeado said, gazing at them as they flew above the waters. Something jolted them, the pair of brown flitters went between and showed up right at Tzeado's shoulders. They chirped quietly - they were very nervous.

"There is something out there," Ratar said, "can you feel it?"

"... I can," Tzeado said, knowing that Ratar also had a considerable power over animals. They had more in common than not, really - but perhaps that was the source of his natural ire.

"It's over that way," Ratar said, climbing carefully back out of the hot water. "But I can't tell what it is." Ratar stood in a defensive position, seemingly unaware that he was naked and dripping.

"It isn't something like a tunnel snake," Tzeado said, also rising and putting on his towel. "You might want to put something on, if it is, though."

Ratar grabbed a towel - knowing that he was just pissing off Tzeado by appearing casually naked before him.

They went out of the circle of glows, into the darker corner of the pool. There were several natural chasms and fissures leading out around the pools, this whole area was riddled with lava tubes and the like. Neither of them really wanted to know what it was they were going to be in for. If it was scaring the flitters, it would probably not be nice.

Two black things, swinging in the air somewhere near their heads, appeared quite closely to their left.

The shrieking of the flitters saved Tzeado a nasty bite - from the gigantic ANT that had arrived in the fissure.

"What - in the HELL - is THAT thing!?" They both shouted loudly - and then they ran. It followed them quickly, running on its six legs and waving its antennae in the air. The men cast around for anything that could help them, but this was the baths after all, and not the smithy or even the vet's shop. Finally Ratar located a pole which had towels draped on it.

"You're stronger than I am, here," Ratar said, handing it off to the smithy. "I'm going to distract it. Maybe I can blind it with something..."

He grasped a handful of towels, and began waving them at the Ant. It followed him around, still waving its antennae curiously. Ratar had it turned around, and then began to drape the towels carefully at it. He was quick, agile, probably came from having such a dangerous and deadly sister...

"Now! Now!" Ratar yelled, "kill it!"

The ant's head, covered in towels and seeming to twist about at odd angles trying to get them off, didn't see anything coming when Tzeado plunged the bar into its head. With a sickening crack - the pole broke through the chitin exoskeleton, and went into the stone of the pool floor.

The ant continued to move, even after others had arrived. They'd saved the day, but from what? What was this thing, and how did it get in here?

They didn't know - not yet.

"What ... if there's more of them?" Tzeado asked to no one in particular.

*** (this search takes place after the Kshau Protectorate shifts to Alskyr - without having told anyone about it. It is also the same *approximately* as Aaryea's.)***

It was only a few days later that Tzeado heard that a trio of dragons had arrived - one was from Alabaster, but the other two were foreign to their eyes. Tzeado could feel the dragons in the sky too - as easily as he could sense the flitters or other creatures around him. This would be a good day, he thought.

The master smith knew that this would be the day. He'd be losing a grand apprentice. But... after what he'd been told about that ant thing, maybe there was a better job for the young man out there. Maybe he ought to be on a dragon, after all.

Tzeado went up to the Flats, where dozens of others were already gathering. The weather was quite clear, early spring in this area brought with it the smell of greenery and the sounds of rutting wherry. He overheard the beautiful Lady Aaryea asking her friend, "Have they said anything yet?"

"Not yet - but they're going to. I think the one is from another part of the Kshau Protectorate," Cendar announced, "but I don't know who the other is."

The riders motioned for everyone to please quiet down. The brown rider from Alabaster was K'yle, the Lord Holder's son. There was a blue rider, T'shen by name, whose travels through the Protectorate were quite amazing. The third was a woman, but quite the odd one, on a gold dragoness. For some reason, it looked as though this woman had ... fur and a tail. No one quite believed it until she dropped to the ground and started talking to her companions, but sure enough there were small ears poking out over her mop of silver hair, and a long tuft-tipped tail that swished about.

People began muttering almost immediately, but K'yle shushed them with a wave of his hand. "We're here on search, yes! We're going to give an announcement that's a bit important, to your Lords!" He answered several questions quickly, and then turned to his dragon who bellowed for quiet again. "Thanks - now listen - the Protectorate is going through some drastic changes. We've found a place that's better than all this," he waved his hand but few understood what he meant by that cryptic remark. That was enough for Tzeado - he knew something big was up and that it wasn't just him. That ant had come from somewhere. Not Pern.

They continued to answer typical questions, but avoided mentioning this odd event, and then began allowing people near the dragons so they might be searched.

It looked like the daughter of the Lord Holders was searched, not to too many people's surprise. More to their bemusement, or anger. As though she didn't deserve the chance to stand? Tzeado looked at the big dragons, and got a tightness in his chest. They were magnificent.

When K'yle's brown gazed at Tzeado, the smith had a wonderful sensation in his head. The dragon was searching him. He could feel the presence of the mind, even though the dragon wasn't speaking to him. It felt... complete. It felt like he belonged there, dragon within his mind. The dragon turned to his rider, and K'yle marked Tzeado down as one of the searched. Something caught his eye, then, and the smith walked over to the odd furry gold-rider. He listened in casually to the conversation she was having with Aaryea.

Kaytcha gave a little funny start, and then chuckled. "oh - that. I'd almost forgotten. When we switched over, I've changed into this. I used to have just skin."

"Switched over?" Aaryea asked, curious to no end. "How?"

"That's something that you'll learn later. And, if you pair up with a dragon, it'll be even easier to explain. They know already." Kaytcha thumbed (with a furry, padded claw-tipped hand) back at the dragons. "And they can explain it more easily. We've ... well," she leaned in and both Aaryea and Cendar perked up, "we've already switched over, this speech that K'yle's going to give is just to make it official... Didn't you feel anything odd recently?"

That was it. They were no longer even on Pern. Tzeado looked at the mountains. Others followed his gaze.

Cendar looked into the distance, and a strange look came over her face. "Aary, look. Those mountains aren't familiar, at all. They're not covered in snow, they're really green."

There was a wealth of information that Tzeado could find, through the dragons minds. But they weren't giving anything up just yet. He decided to pack up, just in case they were serious about sending people away to impress.

*** (from the group's search page)***

The large group of gathered Caledruans milled about, surprised at how many there were, and how many of them knew one another - or at least knew someone else in the group. Each had an attachment to the next, they almost could form a chain of familiarity.

When another rider showed up, a day after the trio had Searched, several of the Seached recognized him as a man who had formerly lived there! One of the girls, Janice, bolted to his side when he got off the back of his proud bronze dragon.

"H'ndar!" She cried, laughing and relieved to see him. Every time he would visit, there would be another scar on his skin, and every time, she was eager to locate it.

"It's just Hendar, if you want," the rider said, with an odd smile. "I'm not so fond of people saying it that way any more." He smirked at Janice's odd reaction (she furrowed her eyebrows and went to apologize, but then stopped and swatted him instead).

"But why?" Janice asked. "Why suddenly this odd change? What has really been happening out there?"

Just then, two more riders and dragons arrived, yet more old Caledrus inhabitants who had long since vanished to their own devices. One was riding a dragon whose color shocked a number of the Searched - and a good portion of the onlookers who couldn't be forced to leave. The dragon was a bright shade of red, with paler white markings on it. The rider was a girl who had been well known by the higher status Lordlings - Ezhar the dancer. Her partner, T'nor (who had no such problems with his name being shortened, he still thought it quite an honor) rode a two-toned blue dragon, both clearly from one Weyr by their appearance.

"We will be needing the different dragons to take you all to your destinations," K'yle announced loudly, in his half-squeaky voice. He could sound very serious, when he put his mind to it, but he'd never have the command over people that his father did. "We're going to show you some places that are in need of candidates, and if you think one or another is to your liking, we'll see if you can bond there."

Someone called out, "don't you mean Impress?" But K'yle glared at them.

"No, I mean bond. It's a more broad term. We've found places that aren't all ... well, you'll see. You all will understand best after you get there. And the rest of you," he gazed at the assembled inhabitants who hadn't been Searched, "don't worry. We're all going to explain it soon enough - but you will have to be patient and you will have to trust us."

Another trio of dragons and riders came through the nexus, Betweening was such an old-world term, one of whom had lived at Caledrus as a first-class records keeper, before he was searched. Waadier, now fondly known as D'ier, and his pretty green (what a surprise for people who knew him, huh? NOT!). D'ier and Elkinorith joined the search team on occasion, and he apologized to K'yle for not being there earlier.

"It's all right. It's these two I'm worried about," the Lord Holder's son glanced at his half-sibling Pasha, and Pasha's brother Haze. "Didn't you think there would be enough good candidates here?" He asked them, and both men waved him off with a grin - the same grin that he often had on his face.

They had ridden in on a pair of large dragons, Haze's large bronze Alkalmith, and Pasha's brown Surketh. The dragons moved from their landing spots to an area with bumpy ground that suited them to rest upon, with the others.

Gold, Bronze, two Browns, two Blues, Green, and Red... They lined up like a spectrum of possibilities. Resting and chatting, the dragons seemed to largely ignore the people around them, until K'yle whistled for their attention.

The little booklets that D'ier handed out to the group of Searched folks had shiny pictures on them, of dragons and different weyrs - they could tell that these images were real pictures, not paintings. There was something very surreal about this. Very few people of Caledrus knew about photographs, and most of the ones who did, only knew in theory. They did know that Alabaster had some strange machines that could almost seem to think for themselves. Perhaps these pictures came from them?

"Now, look over everything. There is information about each location's needs and desires," K'yle said, as D'ier finished handing them out. "But I want you all to keep in mind one very important thing. We are *not* going to be fighting Thread any longer."

There was a pause, when everyone put down their pamphlets and stared at him like he was insane.

"There are other things on our minds now, as riders. There are threats to our home, but Thread is not among them. However we have learned that those people who were born on our old home," (that elicited a lot of muttering about what in the world he could mean) "tend to bond best to old-world dragons. Dragons who would be best familiar with you. Dragons of the older colors," he tossed his head at the fivesome plus one oddity. "and not ones with the newer breed types. When you get back to Alabaster, you'll see what I mean."

"How much has our home changed?" Demanded someone, "where are we if we aren't on our old home?"

"The world is called Alskyr," said Kaytcha, her gold dragoness tossing her head and reminding people that even though the girl had fur and a tail now - was not human as far as they were concerned - she had still impressed a grand golden dragon like herself. "And it's a very nice place. You will all benefit," she turned to the onlookers who had started to mill about nervously, "because this world is rich in plant life, and our isle has some wonderful people on it that accepted us on it."

"The arrangement was made," K'yle said, "by my father, by T'shen, and by some other people high-up. We knew that if there was an announcement there would be panic, and we wouldn't be able to bring everyone along properly."

Pasha and Haze, standing together with their shoulders bumped, nodded. "And you never noticed, did you?" Pasha asked. He was the stronger telepath of the two, and his lineage (K'yle's side especially) were ones which had helped the most.

"It's not important how long we've been here," said Haze, having heard someone ask that among the Searched, "what is important is that we integrate everyone into our new ways, sooner or later."

"That brings us to the dragons," T'shen said, sweeping past the brothers. The Searched group were apt to stare at him anyway, tall and handsome as he was. Even D'ier (perhaps especially D'ier) gazed at him in wonder. "The dragons who pair off with Caledrus inhabitants will be living with you, here." He swept his hand and suddenly - because they had been inclined to ignore it and nudged telepathically to do so by Engell and his troupe - people noticed that the mountains that had greenery about them, also had ledges, caverns, terraces... Big enough for dragons to roost if they so wished.

"... So you're saying," one of the Searched girls said, "that we will be coming back here, to live, with our dragons."

"That's it in a nutshell."

"Then let's go!" She said, laughing, looking through the pamphlet. Aaryea was grinning like mad, as she looked through her own.

One thing that a number of the searched noticed was that there were multiple openings at several of the locations. Particularly, a place called Enzan Shi had lots of openings, but for some unusually colored dragons on the sands. Some of the searched were leery of such things. K'yle told them not to try for those types, then. There were other locales fit for them.

Tzeado looked carefully at all the pages. Though he could read, he did so slowly not because he didn't understand the words - but because he wanted to savor this experience. He would be able to choose where he stood? Was that normal? Well, nothing was normal now.

He saw that Aaryea had chosen Enzan Shi. And something - he wasn't sure what - made him decide to follow her.

It didn't much matter. There were sevral eggs turning about, and the female bronze guarding them looked on proudly - but with a little worry on her noble eyes. The egg which broke open first was a bronze, almost the same color as she, but he wedged himself butt-first out of the shell and managed to stick his head firmly into the shell.

I don't like this egg so much, anymore, he muttered, and there was a ripple of laughter from people in the audience. He was oblivious, but ... Tzeado perked up.

There was something very graceful about the dragon once he'd cleared himself out of the egg (dropping onto the sands with his wet hide collecting a batch of fine grains). The crowd hadn't seen what a great color he was until he'd shattered the egg from his head and began to walk without a stumble toward the candidates. They cheered, and Tzeado presumed they were doing so because he'd bonded.

The dragonet strutted forward, you knew I could do it, didn't you, Tz'o?

"Of course I did, Xakyth," the new rider - BRONZE rider - puffed up and smiled. They left the sands first, the bronze shaking off the rest of the sand from his glossy hide, and any mystery about why so many more candidates were brought to the sands was only answered much later on. Tz'o didn't care in the slightest at that moment. All he cared about was that his Xakyth was hungry and needed a good bath.

***

In the months that went by following the hatching, Tz'o and J'ser kept a careful eye on Aaryea. She hadn't impressed, and she was, like the other group of gold-worthy candidates, crushed that the single gold that had hatched didn't bother to choose any of them. But she seemed in good spirits most of the time, and was willing to help with the weyrlings as they progressed from feeding to hunting.

"They sure do like to run," Aaryea commented, and Tz'o nodded.

"Yes and pretty soon they're going to want to fly." He said proudly.

Aaryea got a gleam in her eye, "you're thinking that Xakyth is going to be the first up there?" She nodded at the sleek bronze.

"Well -" Tz'o said with a start, and then his eyes found that not only had Xakyth not been first into the air, he didn't even look like he wanted to be. Two blues and one of the odd exotically colored rares had done it first, spreading their wings and catching the updrafts from the base of the parade fields. "That's that," he chuckled.

"He'll be first at something, other than hatching," Aaryea assured him, and then moved on to where J'ser was tending his brown.

Tz'o watched her with interest, they were both young, and he knew that she was from a good family. Her expectations of impressing a gold had fallen through - but for how long?

You like her, Xakyth said, butting his large head against Tz'o's shoulder and nearly knocking him over.

"Of course I do, who wouldn't? She's a brave girl, why don't you tell that gold about her?" Tz'o said, looking at the ridge where the unbonded gold sunned herself.

You want me to tell a gold what she's missing out on? Are you crazy? The bronze replied, you do it yourself... I am going to catch some fish.

"Why don't you catch some air instead?" Pleaded Tz'o, but to no avail, the weyrling didn't start flying for another week.

***

When Aaryea was standing on the sands again, with her pretty little Sandy myph to accompany her, Xakyth and he were busy flying over the great stony cliffs near Enzan Shi. He and several other riders wanted to get a bit of practice in group flying and tactics, so they'd teamed up and were paired off - one side attacking, the other defending. Their mock fights drew a crowd, but they weren't told to stop.

"This was a great idea!" Tz'o yelled to the other bronze riders, "what say we tell those blue riders who's boss?"

Laughing, the troupe of dragon riders grazed the batch of smaller dragons, who then responded rather like a mocking bird would to a raven: by ganging up on them and harrassing them to the ground!

Who's turn is it to laugh now? Said one boldly, and Xakyth snarled at him.

You caught us this time, but when we return... your dens are ours!

They flew off, their 'mission' a failure but their exercise a success. This is a great game, Xakyth told Tz'o. I hope we can keep playing it when we get home.

"Home..." Tz'o said. "You know I ... think we should wait for Aaryea."

You really do like her, Xakyth said, well I hope she does bond eventually. But you know that I am grown enough to fly for my own sweethearts...

"Are you saying that you know of a place to go?" Tz'o said.

Oh that changed your mind, did it? Xakyth chuckled. I think I will try finding one, that's for sure...

***

The bronze did indeed find a place, one where a good number of flights were scheduled already. But there was a queen flying, a proper gold needed proper suitors! T'zo had read somewhere, or perhaps heard a Harper speak of it, that a queen's rider might influence her dragon's choice of mate, if she was strong-willed about it.

Perhaps he should try moving the odds a bit in his favor. The other bronze that had been signed to the flight looked to be mature, healthy, though smaller and perhaps quicker than Xakyth.

How can you say such a thing! I am quick! I am sturdy!

You're big and strong, yes, but can you be faster than the others, faster than the gold? You want to win, don't you? T'zo thought, and his dragon puffed with pride.

"Then let me work on this my way. You make sure you know the territory so you can use it to your advantage." T'zo watched his dragon fly off, and the Weyr played out through his eyes in the man's mind as much as his dragon's. The flitters... they could help too - if the locals left off a bit. Julius hissed at a nearby faire, Jackie seemed to have gone into the rafters for a better view of the Weyr's dining hall.

From the way the woman walked into the place, he knew that she was a gold-rider, but which was hers? The one about to fly? He hoped not: that was a full flight indeed, and T'zo had only made arrangements for the next. No, no, it looked as though this young woman was distracted and a bit put off by something. If only he could read the minds of women - there was a task he'd never tried and might not get the chance given her distracting pair of flits.

Her... distracting pair of flits. A blue and a green, loyal and sweet. T'zo suggested to Jackie that he flirt with the green - maybe the blue didn't mind, maybe he wouldn't be too territorial about it?

Almost too casually, T'zo looked up when the green gave off a chittering cry, and alerted the brown-haired woman. "Oh look at that, blasted flit keeps getting himself into trouble with the ladies." T'zo said. Oh he could pour on the charm - but he sensed through the rider's flitters that she had recently gone through some kind of distress. It wouldn't do to turn her against him by being too foward. "I'll call him off if you wish, he and Julius are always busy in new places."

The girl was a bit more distracted than he anticipated, perhaps talking to her dragon. "Yes, please, is there a... I don't even know this place much myself, I'm sorry."

"I just got here, as well," T'zo stated. "But this is the dining hall - maybe if we throw some food at them, they'll stop being such pests!" He smiled widely, offered his arm to her, and hoped she'd take it. He would head them over to the serving tables, maybe start chatting... Would this gain him any points? Did she know his rank and dragon? They'd have to wait and see!

Gold Obsidian Etiuruth and Bronze Xakyth (Aaryea/T'zo enzanshi)

DRAGONFLIGHT 6 GOLD ALABASTER Huth – 13 Kaiiv f 35

JESS 16 A GOLD Obstacaath – 13 Oei f 24

ice 8 BLACK ALABASTER Tonihth M– 13 Vun f 23

rae 10 COPPER ALABASTER Gihepth – 13 W'en m 32

SHIOLAR 7 SLATE A F Loovooth – 13 Yuik f 28

NYX 6 BROWN ALABASTER Bhenath – 13 X'mi m 27

molly1 BROWN ALABASTER Haihetaeyth – 13 Neod f 26

KEILIN 5 ALABASTER BROWN Lideth – 13 Nahl f 32

DRAGONFLIGHT 19 A BROWN Gegath – 13 Neju f 25

KESAVA 5 A PURPLE Ebnurth – 13 Hep f 27

kless 7 BLUE ALABASTER Eljerth – 13 Fos f 30

DRACOSINF 1 GREEN ALABASTER Ovskth – 13 Nhi f 28

SHERRA 4 ALABASTER RED Thameth – 13 Di'no m 29

KESAVA 1 A GREEN Jemingbith – 13 D'uj m 26