==== October 6th, 2013
==== Kyara, Sienna
==== Kyara and Sienna talk relationships while their dragons do some fancy flying at the Crater Lake.

Who Kyara, Sienna
What Kyara and Sienna talk relationships while their dragons do some fancy flying at the Crater Lake.
When Afternoon. There is 1 Turn and 18 days until the 12th Pass.
Where Crater Lake, Igen Weyr

igencraterlake.jpg

Crater Lake
Four centuries ago, a chunk of the very comet that drove some Oldtimers forward crashed to the desert near Igen Weyr, collapsing the original inner caverns and breaking through to a new spring that now feeds into Igen’s underground aquifer. The result? Beauty from destruction - a long, crystalline lake of brilliant sapphire blue. Sharp sandstone rings the water in jagged peaks, where sparse desert shrubs cling to steep, sandy slopes and reflect darkly on the pristine, mirror-like surface. Out in the midst of the lake, a small island pierces the glassy plane, umber from azure in a near-perfect cone. A startling break in the stark desert and savannah surrounding the Weyr, the crater lake sits like a jewel in the rough - a picturesque, inviting respite from the rough, dry terrain beyond.


The bright afternoon glints harshly from the sandstone-hewn terrain just outside Igen Weyr, but there is no real heat in the brightness - mild though it may be for the season. In contrast, Rukbat's rays only serve to deepen the blue brilliance of the Crater Lake, above which a lone, still-growing green dragon zips, dives, and rolls. There is purpose to the aerobatics, however, just as there is purpose to the running strides of her rider. Kyara's course takes her as close to the rim of the lake as she dares, and she purposely goes over any rocky obstacles in her path (unless they're too big). Every once in a while, single words punctuate heavy breathing, immediately followed by some maneuver from Liareth overhead. Practice, this; they've been at it for a while, and Kyara's run is slowing as she nears a large boulder.

To be out. To be beyond the confining walls of the Weyr. To see other things, and to stretch and fly and be free. These are the things that drive Kehemath and Sienna to take a quick reprieve beyond the weyr walls, their flight taking them that way, which happens to be over the Crater Lake. It isn't long, then, before the elder green spies the younger, her mind reaching out with a gentle, unobtrusive puff of sage.

Liareth is both welcoming and - perhaps - slightly challenging at that subtle incursion from the older green, voicing a melodic bugle as she turns a tight spiral to see the incoming pair. « Kehemath! » Yes, there is a definite air of friendly competition to the energetic steam and heat billowed across the mind of the wilder one. « Come join us! » Below, Kyara jogs to a stop and peers overhead, laughing at the tone of her lifemate and waving above. Whether or not she's seen doesn't matter much, with Lia doing what she's doing. The pretty green might be concentrating on outmatching all the others for agility, and it is work…but still fun, and she's all about trying to drag Kehemath into it, at the moment.

Kehemath rumbles, her mind latching on to that competitiveness and eagerly agreeing. First, though, she must deposit her rider. Which she does in a flash, dropping down and shifting with antsy eagerness until Sienna digs a thumb into her shoulder to make her still so the woman can dismount rather than be thrown. Once she's clear, Kehemath surges into the sky with the energy and agility befitting her color, soaring towards Liareth with a daring tone to her thoughts.

"I think she was going to challenge whoever flew by," Kyara comments with a wry raise of eyebrow as she watches Sienna come down, giving a quick salute before upending her water sking and taking a healthy gulp. "She's in a feisty mood today. D'you know, she practically dropped me out here? I skip running for one morning, and she's all over me about it." Above, Liareth warbles emphatically at Kehemath and takes off ahead of the larger green, diving straight for the water and leveling out with dizzying abruptness just before actually being in the lake, only to rise again. With another laugh, Kyara leans on the boulder, starting to stretch out a little bit. "How're you today, Sienna?"

Sienna laughs, shaking her head as she watches the dragons above. "Is she starting to get proddy?" she asks, walking over to sit down and exhale. "I'm fine. Feels good to be out. Even not that far out, and only for a bit. Still feels nice. Yourself? Drills go okay?" Above, Kehemath takes a spot right on Liareth's tail, following the green in a close game of follow-the-leader, trying to match her every twist and turn, every dive and zig and zag.

A bit surprised at the notion of Liareth starting to go proddy already, Kyara blinks, eyebrows creeping slightly upward as she flicks her gaze out to the dragons. Liareth has decided she likes doing things that put her upside-down for a moment and flies a tight loop back over their current path. "Oh… Faranth, I hope not yet. She's not glowing or anything, though that might not be obvious in her, maybe. I don't think so…" Rubbing her neck nervously, Kyara watches the aerobatics curiously for a moment more and then shakes her head. "No, I think she's just excited about competing." To the other questions, Kyara nods. "Yes, it's good to be out for a change. Drills were…alright. Seemed like W'rin was doing a bit more bellowing at us than usual, but I think there's a level of distraction there while we get ready for the Tourney."

Sienna nods. "The wing usually has a few days off from drills to prepare before the Tourney, but I don't know if he'll do that this time or not. We've been practicing a lot," she says, nodding to Kehemath. "Getting back into shape." Her body is slowly - slowly - returning to normal. Then she smiles, kind and understanding to her friend. "Just keep an eye out for it; she'll rise sooner than you think. But you'll be okay. You and K'ane are competing in an event, I heard? Anything going on there?"

"Well, I'm glad to fly mock fall with you, even if you are still working back up to strength," she tells Sienna with a small grin and a very slight tease to her tone. "And K'vvan, even if he's sort of…prickly. He and Nadeeth are good. I know I probably unsettle him, but…" She shrugs to end that, then nods to the matter of Liareth again. "I will. Though with as much as she goes around flirting, I won't wonder if it sneaks up on me; I might not be able to tell!" She shakes her head pointedly to the mention of K'ane. "Paired Search and Rescue, but no. Nothing…going on. I might've thought about it, but…I've been getting to know D'reize better, and I'm hopeful there. Carefully." Especially after what happened last time she got hopeful about someone.

Sienna grins, "I'm glad you and K'vvan included an old out of practice pair like us," she says, returning that tease, though hers is hardly slight. "K'vvan's okay, in his own way. Has a lot of potential. I like him, even though he'd never believe me if I told him. And I think female riders period unsettle him. He's improved a lot though, from the first time I met him." To the rest, she nods with a thoughtful look. "D'reize, hmm?" She considers for a long moment and then just shrugs. "Well, maybe. I don't know him that well." Not beyond Weyrlingmaster stuff. "Carefully," she agrees with a nod, though she didn't take her own advice. How long did it take her to get pregnant? Not long.

Kyara makes a dismissive noise and a gesture to go with it, finally sitting down on the boulder beside Sienna. "Hardly old," she chuckles. "What's the difference between us? A decade, at most?" It occurs to Kyara that she doesn't even know how old her friend is. Her own guesses could be quiet off the mark, for all she knows. She hmms a bit, considering K'vvan, and smiles when her thoughts shift to D'reize. "K'vvan was D'reize's mentor during weyrlinghood. One of them." A crease flickers between her brows at the memory of the other of D'reize's mentors, but is quickly gone. "D'reize's Aeshnidaeth reminds me of Kehemath in some ways. She's quiet like Vazirynath sometimes, too. And D'reize himself is so quiet, always thinking thinks over and over…I'm not sure when or even if we'll get beyond friendship." She fiddles with a woven bracelet in black, orange, and green around her right wrist - his gift to her, and her main source of hope that they will get beyond that. Still…could it be that she's getting a little impatient? Perhaps.

Sienna has to think about that for a moment, before she grins. "I'm thirty," she answers. Give or take 400 turns, but that's an old joke now and she doesn't use it. She nods slowly, glancing over at the woven bracelet. "Did he give you that?" she asks quietly, a gentle smile on her lips.

"Oh, fine, I was off by a shade over six months," says the younger greenrider with feigned chagrin, a pretended grimace quickly replaced by a grin as she gives a light jab of her thumb against her chest. "I'm only nineteen for another half a Turn. Never would've guessed you were thirty, honestly." Her gaze drops to the bracelet again, and she turns it about on her wrist. "Yes," she answers, also quiet. "I wasn't expecting it. He said they would make these to keep their hands nimble, while he was in the Seacraft." With a sigh, she leans over, elbows to knees. "I don't know. Maybe I should just outright ask him if he wants to be more than friends. I'm just…so sharding afraid of messing something up. I like him. A lot. He's different, and I don't want to go scaring him off. But at the same time," she looks up at her still-cavorting lifemate, "I feel like time is running short."

Sienna laughs. "Well good, I'm glad I don't seem to be that old. Kehemath keeps me young." Or ages her prematurely; the jury is still out on that. The older greenrider leans forward too, exhaling softly. "Not sure what to tell you, Kyara," she admits with a slight frown. "Though I tend to lean towards making intentions and wants clear, rather than hiding them. Worse he can say is no, right? Then you'd know. But I wouldn't really listen to me. My relationships so far have not been all that successful."

Kyara regards Sienna with a slight tilt of her head now, brow furrowing very subtly. "Well…you got it right eventually, didn't you?" With a small smile and a subtle head shake, she bumps Sienna's shoulder slightly with her own in reassurance. "It's okay; you don't have to be able to give me sage advice or anything. You still know more than me on the matter, so I'll listen regardless. You listening to me go on about it is appreciated, though." She brings a hand up, slowly rubbing at her neck again. "It's strange, how important something like this ends up being, in light of the bigger picture. Almost feels selfish. And yet without it…it almost feels like the bigger picture isn't worth facing."

Sienna chuckles with a small smile for her friend. "Time will tell, though yes, it seems as if this one is the right one. Though to be fair, I've thought that about all my previous relationships. This one is certainly different, so maybe this one will stick. You never know, really, but all you can do is try." As she speaks, she fiddles with her weyrmating ring, silver with green stones. "I know what you mean though. About it feeling selfish but necessary. I know I'm best when I'm in a relationship. It's just…a part of my personality I guess. I like loving someone, and having them love me back. I need that, beyond what Kehemath gives me."

Noting the ring that's being fiddled with and smirking gently, Kyara scoots back on the rock now, just in time to hear a muted splash from somewhere far out in the lake. Twisting to look, she spies Liareth surfacing, rising to shake water from her wings before folding them to her back and starting a leisurely glide across the surface in their direction. If she sticks to that, it'll take a little while to reach them yet. "There was this Journeyman, when I was in the Harper Hall, as an apprentice," she recounts, idly turning the bracelet on her wrist again, "who insisted - because he knew everything about Weyr life after spending Turns on journey at Telgar, you see - that dragonfolk weren't allowed to love anyone. It just wasn't in their nature to be able to do so, he said, because of the dragons." She rolls her eyes and snorts. "I'd kick him the lake now, if I could. I think maybe we might even understand it better, because of them." She gestures back toward the dragons. And suddenly, announced only by the crunching of gravel and stone under taloned feet, Liareth is padding up the steep slope from the lake, and she stops and sits by the boulder, looking at the two women as if she'd been part of the conversation all along. "Tire yourself out finally, my love?" Kyara laughs at her pretty green, reaching up to rub Liareth's muzzle affectionately.

Sienna nods. "I thought the same," she admits. "And I thought, after Impression, that I shouldn't need or even want to be with anyone else. I had a dragon, I had a mate for life, a partner, and yet…they're not human and there's nothing that can replace the love of…one of your own kind, I guess. Interesting thought, that we might understand love more than others. It's certainly more complicated when there are dragons involved though. When there're duties, and a weyr to run." She leans back when Liareth approaches, scanning the lake until she finds Kehemath, digging in the shallows. "I wish he and I had more time together," she admits quietly. "It's so precious. Those times when it was just us and the twins…even when all we were doing was dozing together on the couch. I wish I got more of that. But on the other hand, I know it's good for me to have a man that isn't fawning over me all the time. It's good for me to have to do things on my own, and be independent, but still have someone. And he loves me, and he's utterly faithful." The idea of W'rin cheating on her is laughable, for a man so driven by duty and honor. She chuckles. "See? Even when you're old like me," tease, "you're still figuring this stuff out."

Liareth settles down onto her stomach, which puts her head at a good angle to just rest atop the highest point of the boulder they're sitting on. She rumbles contentedly - a sound just deep enough to be felt through the rock - and there's a brief conversation between Kyara and the green before Lia is diverting her mind toward thanking Kehemath for the fun of the flight. After which, she's dozing, thank you very much, and Kyara turns her attention back to Sienna. The "old" comment earns the older greenrider another eye-roll. "Yer not old," Kyara insists with a slipping accent in mock-exasperation, though she's laughing it. So literal, even when she knows better. "But it's good to know it's a long-tread path I won't get lost on. The whole figuring it out business." With a sigh she stands up, brushing grit from her pants. "I think…I'll probably talk to D'reize. Soon." She gives a quick scan of the sky. "Probably had better head back, if Lia and I are going to rest up for sweeps later." Grimace. "Care to join us flying back?" Her smirk indicates she might have a more scenic path in mind; the idea of staying out for a while longer yet is too appealing to make the trip back a simple, straight flight.

Sienna smiles, pushing to her feet. "Let me know how it goes. And yeah, we'll join you," she says, her eyes unfocusing for a long moment as she reigns in her digging lifemate, and soon Kehemath is joining them, still with plenty of energy to spare for the flight home.

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