Hello loves! While I haven't been writing, I have been working on updating some issues that have been hanging around on the layout! The Character change box is now at the bottom of the page, beside the up/down arrows! Green and Gold dragon flight dates have been shifted to the bottom of the page, where the (useless!) discord widget was located. Where the dragon flights were in the header, is now replaced by a Monthly Event box! This will be updated at the start of each month, with a fun mini-event you can take part in, if you want to! Thistle!
24.Mar.13, 05:06 PM
Being rudely awoken at six in the morning was quickly becoming common place to the new mother, though it wasn't a screaming infant that woke her this time; at least not at first. It was the collective hum of the Weyr's dragons that startled the woman awake. Before long the bone rattling sound was joined by the wail of a disgruntled two-week old baby girl with a tuft of fiery hair on her head. Rubbing her tired eyes--she would swear she'd only just gotten the baby back to sleep a few moments ago--she rolled out of bed and rummaged around for her candidate's robe. It had been so long since she'd worn it but it was loose enough that it should still fit, despite a few extra pounds she'd put on.
Weaver curled up in the warm indent left by Jisralna's body and Gambi sat at the foot of her bed, staring with trepidation at the flailing creature that made such horrible noises. Silly, much to the woman's surprise often took to guarding little Leralna, especially when she was being fussy. He was there now, perched on edge of the sturdily made cradle of sorts that sat beside her bed. Once she'd slid her feet into her boots, Jisralna she moved to her daughter and scooped up squirming infant, ignoring Silly's hiss. He knew better than to snap at her. It had only taken her a few minutes to get ready but already she could hear the sound of the other candidates scurrying. What's more, there was a gold egg on the sands so naturally she'd be expected to stand...and if she Impressed. Jisralna looked down at her daughters scrunched up face and smoothed the unruly tuft of hair only to have it spring up again.
Would she be able to trade one infant for another? Not likely, but then she doubt she'd be given a choice. However, for the time being she was going to have to hand little Leralna over to the creche for the hatching; the hot sands were no place for a baby, even if she had someone from the crowd hold on to her. Walking swiftly, Silly flying low above her head with Gambi and Weaver riding the currents well above him, she hurried to the creche and reluctantly handed her child over to one of the women, hoping that she'd be back in time for Leralna's next feeding. In her experience Hatchings were unpredictable but generally rather quick once they got going.
Catching up to the other candidates, she wove her way through the throng until she found Aparicus and fell in line beside her, doing her best to stay between the girl and any of the men though the crowd made it nearly impossible. She'd forgotten how uncomfortably hot the sands were and how loud and disorienting a hatching could be and before she knew it, anxiety began to build in her stomach. It didn't help any that in the back of her mind was that niggling worry that she might somehow be chosen by a green and now the added worry that Impression would mean she would have no time left for her daughter. R'ana had managed somehow but she'd have to ask the woman for a few pointers. Having three young firelizards and an infant was hard enough, especially since their feeding schedules rarely seemed to align. She felt that for the past few weeks she was always feeding or cleaning up after something or someone and it was all she could do make sure she still got her chores in and remembered to eat herself.
When the girls were finally arranged around the golden egg like a Lady's skirt, Jisralna took a chance to glance at her fellow candidates. She knew most of them though hadn't interacted with too many of them over the last nine months or so. She smiled to each of them then settled in. It wasn't the gold egg that was stirring, but one of the others. Before long, however the constant thrumming of the dragons humming petered out and left the woman blinking, looking around as nervous chatter filled the void. The eggs had stilled. Still her mind was a churning mess of worries.
Would she really be forced to give up her child if she Impressed? Had she left her bedroom door open when she left? She really had to pee, how long was this going to take? Was Silly terrorizing the creche staff? Where had she put her sun hat? She really needed to catch up on her sewing as she'd not done much of it over the past two weeks or more. For an hour she came up with a million silly things to worry about, her fingers twisting at in the material of the front of her white gown. She almost missed her belly for all the grief and discomfort it had caused her. With a sigh she followed the rest of the candidates off the sands when they were ushered away after an hour of no movement from the clutch.
Finally! She might not have been able to hold it much longer. She murmured something about being right back then wiggled and wormed her way through the restless crowd and found the nearest latrine only to let out a comically mild curse when she was forced to wait for the facility. By the time the person ahead of her left she was fairly dancing. Nature's call answered, she glanced towards the sands then decided that a quick visit to the creche before the hatching started up again, for surely it would. She found her little Lera asleep and Silly sprawled out next to her, gnawing on the head of a rag doll he'd no doubt stolen from some poor child. She let him be, however as it was better than him hissing about like some untrained fiend.
Leralna's mouth moved as she slept, as though nursing and Jissy smiled. Her qualms about being an unwed mother were quickly abating and she was beginning to realize, finally, that life at the weyr was far, far different than at the hold. By no means had she had a sudden change of character and she still harbored some guilt over the whole thing but she was also coming to accept the fact that not being married to Lera's father would never change how she felt about her daughter and should she have another child the chances of her being married to its father were rather slim. Marriage, she was finally beginning to discover, was a concept that didn't hold over well in weyr society. Didn't mean that she was going to run about sleeping with everyone but after almost three turns she was finally starting to adjust internally to life at Katila.
Slipping out of the creche, she made her way to get something to eat, starting slightly when Weaver landed on her shoulder and quickly tucked himself behind her braid. Her meal was quick and she returned to the sands to wait with the others spotting a familiar face in the crowd. She smiled as B'run nodded then quickly picked a few others out of the crowd before settling in next to Aparicus once more and waiting quietly. The chatter of a few dozen people was beginning to wear on her so that by the time the hatching resumed once more she had a full blown head ache and was more than ready for the entire event to be done. Certainly not how she'd imagined her first hatching after having Leralna would go. By now she'd missed at least two of her daughters feedings and was rather anxious to get back to her. She knew that the creche was equipped to handle infants but still she worried; what mother wouldn't?
The Weaver winced and the blue that lay across her neck squeaked when Krypth summoned everyone back to the sands and the humming started again, battering her ears and turning what was a simple headache into a throbbing pain. She hurried with the other girls back onto the sands, eyeing the green that had fairly exploded from her shell as she cast about the sands. But she didn't have long to consider it as all of the eggs began to move. Everything seemed to be happening at once, the green stumbled across the sands towards the boys then a crack shot down the length of the gold egg and Jisralna found herself holding her breath. Her mind went blank; there were a million things to worry about and she couldn't think of a single one.
The sounds of another egg shattering was unable to pull her attention away from the shuddering egg. There was a surge of laughter and giggles but still all Jisralna saw was that crack in the shell of the egg. Later she would laugh about the retold story of the little green who had needed a bit of help, but now all she could do was continue to hold her breath as the egg fell still once more. Taking a moment to breathe before she passed out, Jisralna glanced around only to start when the girls around her stirred. Her head whipped back around to look at the egg and sure enough a pair of golden legs had bashed through the shell, though she didn't have long to consider it as a green came flailing through their little cluster.
Her jaw dropped and she struggled to make her mind work as she watched the green collide with the golden egg and send its contents sprawling. Then, before she knew what hit her, the green had stumbled off in another direction; hers. She tried to get out of the way, really she did, but a disoriented and rather clumsy hatchling was a hard thing to predict and she only ended making things worse as she lurched in the wrong direction. Weaver took to the air and popped between with a squeak.
Limbs tangled and the woman was sent sprawling in the hot sands. No! Oh sweet Faranth no! She couldn't have a Green...she couldn't be a fighter! Though she wasn't yet injured, tears immediately sprung to the woman's eyes as she tried to push herself up. She had to go, had to run! "I don't want to fight! I don't want to fight! don't wa--" Before she could even get her hands beneath her though, the green shrieked and began to flail, a wing smacking into the back of her head and cut off the words she hadn't even realized she was wailing by sending her face first back into the sand.
There was little more for her to do but cover her head with her hands and cling to her rhetoric. She wasn't a fighter, she couldn't possibly Impress a green! The internal rhetoric became shouting once more though when the green finally freed herself after much flailing and the hatchling stumbled over her, the claws on one of her hind legs shredding the material of her gown along her back and cutting into the flesh beneath it. Then she was gone, leaving a shaking, somewhat bloodied Weaver behind her, muttering with her face in the sand. After several seconds, the woman slowly pushed herself up, sand clinging to the tear tracks on her face and her braid pulled out in places. She was a mess, a shaky jittery thankful mess. Her eyes found the green in the arms of a young man not far from B'run and R'ana. The green didn't want her; thank Faranth.
Turning, she looked back towards the cluster of her peers to find Rhaedalyn hugging the little gold and sighed with relief. The Gold had Impressed, the Green had left her unimpressed....why did her back sting? And her legs? Twisting, she winced slightly and pulled at her robe, sighing at the sight of stark red staining the white. The clumsy little green had torn her robe to ribbons and apparently some of her flesh with it. With a rather pathetic whimper she looked around, suddenly paranoid that any of the tears might be showing off bits of her that were best left covered. As far as maulings went, Jisralna was lucky she'd only suffered a few scrapes and gashes and maybe a bit of a sand rash on her chin and cheek.
With the Gold Impressed, Jisralna hurried off the sands and towards the spot where she'd seen R'ana and Shanith. The woman would know what to do. Obviously she'd need to see the Healer but first she needed cover up! Trying to brush the sand from her face, she blushed as she noticed B'run standing behind R'ana then turned her eyes back to the greenrider, tears welling up and threatening to spill over once again. She was standing awkwardly, hands behind her back clutching together material that gaped a bit near her lower back, stained at the tattered edges with fresh blood; blood which she could now feel trickling and tickling down her back and the backs of her legs. She was a mess...in front of so many eyes.
Weaver curled up in the warm indent left by Jisralna's body and Gambi sat at the foot of her bed, staring with trepidation at the flailing creature that made such horrible noises. Silly, much to the woman's surprise often took to guarding little Leralna, especially when she was being fussy. He was there now, perched on edge of the sturdily made cradle of sorts that sat beside her bed. Once she'd slid her feet into her boots, Jisralna she moved to her daughter and scooped up squirming infant, ignoring Silly's hiss. He knew better than to snap at her. It had only taken her a few minutes to get ready but already she could hear the sound of the other candidates scurrying. What's more, there was a gold egg on the sands so naturally she'd be expected to stand...and if she Impressed. Jisralna looked down at her daughters scrunched up face and smoothed the unruly tuft of hair only to have it spring up again.
Would she be able to trade one infant for another? Not likely, but then she doubt she'd be given a choice. However, for the time being she was going to have to hand little Leralna over to the creche for the hatching; the hot sands were no place for a baby, even if she had someone from the crowd hold on to her. Walking swiftly, Silly flying low above her head with Gambi and Weaver riding the currents well above him, she hurried to the creche and reluctantly handed her child over to one of the women, hoping that she'd be back in time for Leralna's next feeding. In her experience Hatchings were unpredictable but generally rather quick once they got going.
Catching up to the other candidates, she wove her way through the throng until she found Aparicus and fell in line beside her, doing her best to stay between the girl and any of the men though the crowd made it nearly impossible. She'd forgotten how uncomfortably hot the sands were and how loud and disorienting a hatching could be and before she knew it, anxiety began to build in her stomach. It didn't help any that in the back of her mind was that niggling worry that she might somehow be chosen by a green and now the added worry that Impression would mean she would have no time left for her daughter. R'ana had managed somehow but she'd have to ask the woman for a few pointers. Having three young firelizards and an infant was hard enough, especially since their feeding schedules rarely seemed to align. She felt that for the past few weeks she was always feeding or cleaning up after something or someone and it was all she could do make sure she still got her chores in and remembered to eat herself.
When the girls were finally arranged around the golden egg like a Lady's skirt, Jisralna took a chance to glance at her fellow candidates. She knew most of them though hadn't interacted with too many of them over the last nine months or so. She smiled to each of them then settled in. It wasn't the gold egg that was stirring, but one of the others. Before long, however the constant thrumming of the dragons humming petered out and left the woman blinking, looking around as nervous chatter filled the void. The eggs had stilled. Still her mind was a churning mess of worries.
Would she really be forced to give up her child if she Impressed? Had she left her bedroom door open when she left? She really had to pee, how long was this going to take? Was Silly terrorizing the creche staff? Where had she put her sun hat? She really needed to catch up on her sewing as she'd not done much of it over the past two weeks or more. For an hour she came up with a million silly things to worry about, her fingers twisting at in the material of the front of her white gown. She almost missed her belly for all the grief and discomfort it had caused her. With a sigh she followed the rest of the candidates off the sands when they were ushered away after an hour of no movement from the clutch.
Finally! She might not have been able to hold it much longer. She murmured something about being right back then wiggled and wormed her way through the restless crowd and found the nearest latrine only to let out a comically mild curse when she was forced to wait for the facility. By the time the person ahead of her left she was fairly dancing. Nature's call answered, she glanced towards the sands then decided that a quick visit to the creche before the hatching started up again, for surely it would. She found her little Lera asleep and Silly sprawled out next to her, gnawing on the head of a rag doll he'd no doubt stolen from some poor child. She let him be, however as it was better than him hissing about like some untrained fiend.
Leralna's mouth moved as she slept, as though nursing and Jissy smiled. Her qualms about being an unwed mother were quickly abating and she was beginning to realize, finally, that life at the weyr was far, far different than at the hold. By no means had she had a sudden change of character and she still harbored some guilt over the whole thing but she was also coming to accept the fact that not being married to Lera's father would never change how she felt about her daughter and should she have another child the chances of her being married to its father were rather slim. Marriage, she was finally beginning to discover, was a concept that didn't hold over well in weyr society. Didn't mean that she was going to run about sleeping with everyone but after almost three turns she was finally starting to adjust internally to life at Katila.
Slipping out of the creche, she made her way to get something to eat, starting slightly when Weaver landed on her shoulder and quickly tucked himself behind her braid. Her meal was quick and she returned to the sands to wait with the others spotting a familiar face in the crowd. She smiled as B'run nodded then quickly picked a few others out of the crowd before settling in next to Aparicus once more and waiting quietly. The chatter of a few dozen people was beginning to wear on her so that by the time the hatching resumed once more she had a full blown head ache and was more than ready for the entire event to be done. Certainly not how she'd imagined her first hatching after having Leralna would go. By now she'd missed at least two of her daughters feedings and was rather anxious to get back to her. She knew that the creche was equipped to handle infants but still she worried; what mother wouldn't?
The Weaver winced and the blue that lay across her neck squeaked when Krypth summoned everyone back to the sands and the humming started again, battering her ears and turning what was a simple headache into a throbbing pain. She hurried with the other girls back onto the sands, eyeing the green that had fairly exploded from her shell as she cast about the sands. But she didn't have long to consider it as all of the eggs began to move. Everything seemed to be happening at once, the green stumbled across the sands towards the boys then a crack shot down the length of the gold egg and Jisralna found herself holding her breath. Her mind went blank; there were a million things to worry about and she couldn't think of a single one.
The sounds of another egg shattering was unable to pull her attention away from the shuddering egg. There was a surge of laughter and giggles but still all Jisralna saw was that crack in the shell of the egg. Later she would laugh about the retold story of the little green who had needed a bit of help, but now all she could do was continue to hold her breath as the egg fell still once more. Taking a moment to breathe before she passed out, Jisralna glanced around only to start when the girls around her stirred. Her head whipped back around to look at the egg and sure enough a pair of golden legs had bashed through the shell, though she didn't have long to consider it as a green came flailing through their little cluster.
Her jaw dropped and she struggled to make her mind work as she watched the green collide with the golden egg and send its contents sprawling. Then, before she knew what hit her, the green had stumbled off in another direction; hers. She tried to get out of the way, really she did, but a disoriented and rather clumsy hatchling was a hard thing to predict and she only ended making things worse as she lurched in the wrong direction. Weaver took to the air and popped between with a squeak.
Limbs tangled and the woman was sent sprawling in the hot sands. No! Oh sweet Faranth no! She couldn't have a Green...she couldn't be a fighter! Though she wasn't yet injured, tears immediately sprung to the woman's eyes as she tried to push herself up. She had to go, had to run! "I don't want to fight! I don't want to fight! don't wa--" Before she could even get her hands beneath her though, the green shrieked and began to flail, a wing smacking into the back of her head and cut off the words she hadn't even realized she was wailing by sending her face first back into the sand.
There was little more for her to do but cover her head with her hands and cling to her rhetoric. She wasn't a fighter, she couldn't possibly Impress a green! The internal rhetoric became shouting once more though when the green finally freed herself after much flailing and the hatchling stumbled over her, the claws on one of her hind legs shredding the material of her gown along her back and cutting into the flesh beneath it. Then she was gone, leaving a shaking, somewhat bloodied Weaver behind her, muttering with her face in the sand. After several seconds, the woman slowly pushed herself up, sand clinging to the tear tracks on her face and her braid pulled out in places. She was a mess, a shaky jittery thankful mess. Her eyes found the green in the arms of a young man not far from B'run and R'ana. The green didn't want her; thank Faranth.
Turning, she looked back towards the cluster of her peers to find Rhaedalyn hugging the little gold and sighed with relief. The Gold had Impressed, the Green had left her unimpressed....why did her back sting? And her legs? Twisting, she winced slightly and pulled at her robe, sighing at the sight of stark red staining the white. The clumsy little green had torn her robe to ribbons and apparently some of her flesh with it. With a rather pathetic whimper she looked around, suddenly paranoid that any of the tears might be showing off bits of her that were best left covered. As far as maulings went, Jisralna was lucky she'd only suffered a few scrapes and gashes and maybe a bit of a sand rash on her chin and cheek.
With the Gold Impressed, Jisralna hurried off the sands and towards the spot where she'd seen R'ana and Shanith. The woman would know what to do. Obviously she'd need to see the Healer but first she needed cover up! Trying to brush the sand from her face, she blushed as she noticed B'run standing behind R'ana then turned her eyes back to the greenrider, tears welling up and threatening to spill over once again. She was standing awkwardly, hands behind her back clutching together material that gaped a bit near her lower back, stained at the tattered edges with fresh blood; blood which she could now feel trickling and tickling down her back and the backs of her legs. She was a mess...in front of so many eyes.
