Seeking, Searching [Private]

Sitting atop Venseth, Indivara took her heavy winter riding helmet off and clipped it to one of the riding straps, puffing out a deep breath as the wind tried to tug apart the tight braid she’d put her hair into before leaving that morning. The cool touch was refreshing, especially where her head was damp from the combination of the confining helmet and her own thick hair. It would dry soon, though, with the way the strong breeze was blowing across the bare hilltops.

Unclipping the straps, the young rider kicked a leg over and slid down the side of her blue dragon, pulling her gloves off as she went and tucking them into her belt. Indivara enjoyed being a full rider, with having graduated the month prior when the group turned one year old. Venseth, presumably at his full length now, was a good size and of a strong, solid build. Big for a blue, the stocky dragon only looked bigger still when compared to the tiny, willowy form of his female rider.

“What do you think, Ven?” Indivara turned around to smile up at her dragon, having been admiring the valley below beforehand, an eyebrow arched upwards and playing on the way her scars were stretched across her face. The wind was making some progress on pulling the braid apart, with the shorter lengths coming free and flying happily into Indivara’s eyes and getting stuck against her lips.

There are not many places to hide, Venseth noted quietly, shifting his head to peer at Indivara curiously out of one slowly swirling eye. Indivara grinned, and nodded her head once in agreement.

“True,” but the location had not been sought out to play games of hide and seek, so the open grass valleys between the hill they were perched on and those that surrounded them was not of any concern to the girl. “Do you think it’s the right one, though?” She turned back to examine the view, her eyebrows furrowed into a frown as she searched for something that could not be seen.

Probably not, the dragon answered honestly, and Indivara frowned even as she sighed in exasperation. Her arms crossed over her chest and Indivara’s expression changed to an irritable glare as she accused the valley silently for not being the one she wanted.

Ever since they’d been allowed to travel between without restrictions, Indivara had started taking off early in the morning with Venseth and occasionally her firelizards, without telling anyone where they were going or what they were doing. If V’ler had figured out what she was doing, her fellow bluerider had never made a comment, and he never tried to stop her when she slipped out of his bed, dressed for riding and took off for another day only to collapse back into the bed just shy of dark without a word. Some days she came back quiet and with a depressed air, seeking silent cuddles; other days she came back snarly and irritable, glaring daggers and sleeping stiffly on her own side of the bed like a ticking time bomb.

She still had no idea why V’ler let her sleep in his bed, but nor did she ever question it, or the fact that she could wrangle affection out of him when she wanted them as easily as she was given those flat, apathetic looks when she was in a snarky, fight seeking mood. Indivara had not seen any of her other friends in weeks (or months?) and while she would have missed them if she had stopped and allowed herself to think about it, she was far too busy with her current mission.

We’ll find it.

“I know.” Indivara let her arms drop and she turned back towards Venseth, pulling her gloves out from her belt as she went with the intention of putting them on and remounting her dragon. Her motion was paused, however, when Venseth’s head shot up and turned to look in the direction Indivara knew Katila was located, albeit not at all closely. “What is-?” Indivara’s confused question fell away to become nothing more than lips pursed into a flat line as she caught sight of a familiar dragon approaching.

“Did you call him?” The angry demand was turned on Venseth with flared nostrils and fire in the girl’s eyes.

No. The blue’s response was quiet, firm and matter of fact.  He had no reason to defend himself when it was something he had not done. Indivara nodded sharply once, and turned her fierce glare on the incoming blue dragon, lips pursed and arms once more crossed angrily. She did not know why she was angry, but she was, and that was all the reason Indivara usually needed, even if Venseth offered a mellow rumble of welcome as his friend landed nearby.

“What do you want?” Indivara’s greeting wasn’t nearly as welcoming.