Round Three [K'ren]

It was afternoon, it was hot, and Ellaira was mad.

None of these things were particularly unusual on their own. Afternoons happened every day, after all, and summer tended to be hot, particularly on sunny days. For that matter, Ellaira had been known to let her temper get the better of her every once in a while. Or once every week. Or even for a while. Today, however, was rather more unusual in that the time and the temperature served only to create more fuel for Ellaira's fury.

Tracking down a dragonrider in Katila was not usually an impossible task. Dragonriders were terrible gossips, and a word or two with a greenrider (combined with the sort of flirtatious side-gaze that promised warmth in the bed later that night) was generally sufficient to track down who you were looking for within the hour. Even when they were far away - the lake, for instance, or out flying sweeps - it was only a matter of the right conversations or right placement to find your prey. Ellaira, used to dealing with dragonriders, was also used to finding them where they were supposed to be.

Apparently it was a bad idea to get used to that.

Six hours after she had started looking for K'ren, Ellaira was beyond frustrated. Two hops between, several flirtations she had no desire to consummate and one she probably should, and a good ten degrees warmer than she had been that morning, and she was tired, grumpy, alternating between being frigid and sweating to death. But, here she was, in the same damned place she'd been this morning, crossing the hunting grounds on the back of a very well-broke and dragon-proof runner, looking for answers - and the bearer thereof.

She found him, sitting on an outcropping and watching his dragon hunting. As the runner trotted casually towards K'ren, Ellaira tried very hard to let her irritation drain out of her. It wasn't K'ren's fault - well, actually, yes it was, for being an impossible bastard to find. It was as if he was purposefully avoiding her! She took a deep breath as she reined up her runner near K'ren and dismounted, tying the runner's long reins to a sapling so he could graze but not run off. She exhaled and took another breath, trying to release the tension in her jaw, giving the runner a fond pat. Good beast. After a brief moment, she turned to the rider and smiled. "K'ren! I've been looking for you."

It was a gorgeous day. K’ren was practically sunning in the heat. He leaned back against a nearby fence and studied the perfect sky above. He closed his eyes and let out a content sigh.

Careful Beloyarth snorted, even as he eyed the food running beneath him with an appreciative eye, keep your head back, and your nose up, and some wherry will assume that to be his perch

K’ren raised his eyebrows but otherwise didn’t respond to the invitation for a spar, not even opening his eyes. The bluerider was far too relaxed, like a feline. He yawned and stretched appreciatively, enjoying the way his back cracked.

He had learned to love the heat in the south and the solitude of this hour for hunting. His blue would have to take his playful mood somewhere else, K’ren was in no mood for it. Even the most social of beasts sometimes enjoys his alone time. And, oh, the bluerider was enjoying it. Nothing here but his own person and his thoughts… and, he added drolly as the blue protested, his dragon.

There could be nothing, absolutely nothing, that would detract from his enjoyment of this.

That is, until it was interrupted.

Someone approaches, K’ren. I doubt you will be pleased Bel had the gall to sound amused, even as he swooped from the sky to puncture his claws into the hide of an unsuspecting and frightened beast. It brayed unhappily. The dragon dipped his wings to his sides and began to feed; pleasure sent humming through both their minds.

The shared enjoyment did not ease his rider’s mood, however, when K’ren looked to see who his dragon had warned him of.

“Ack,” K’ren grimaced, hiding the expression by turning his back on the approaching woman, “Oh Farnath, why me?” he groaned. This was the third time. The third. Sharding. Time. Some people simply didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.

Forcing a smile on his face, K’ren turned around as Ellaira approached. Politeness, like a mask, dropped over. “Have you, my dear? What on Pern for?”

I wonder

Quiet, unless you have a plan to get me out of this. Beloyarth did not respond. K’ren sighed.

Truth be told, he had been avoiding the girl, but who could blame him? She’d seemed to narrow on him all her hopes to be Searched, or at least he hadn’t heard from the other Searchriders of her pestering them—not that they were his usual group, but on matters such as this, they kept touch. It wasn’t as if he was the only one in the weyr with a dragon capable of Searching! Jays, he was the least interested among them to begin with, and as Bel had no interest in her, K’ren really could care less. 

He’d been charming, he’d been polite, and he’d even been sympathetic. But this was beginning to get on his nerves. And if he did say so himself, he was not the most easily irritated of dragonriders.

Ellaira's eyes flicked over to watch the blue dragon stoop onto one of the wherries kept out in the hunting grounds out of force of habit. Castrated males or females deemed unnecessary for breeding, these wherries were not directly under her care - but many of them once had been, as she had such a hand in the breeding of the Weyr's avians. It was good to see a dragon hunting without chasing weight off of the beasts, and she gave Beloyarth a grudging mark in the column of her good opinion. Now, if only his rider would be willing to give her answers!

She'd forgotten by now who had first directed her towards K'ren as a Searchrider who could answer her questions. Ellaira had a bit of a hunch that it had been done on a grudge, but she was not about to let that stop her. Even she was not too bullheaded to see that K'ren was not overly pleased to see her, but shard it, she wanted her questions answered! And by Faranth's cunt, she was going to dog the man until he gave her what she wanted.

"I don't want to waste your time," she said with a polite smile, hiding her irritation as best as she could. "I know you're aware that I'm a Candidate, we've talked before. I have two children, I'm of age, and I've been a Candidate for a while. So why wasn't I selected to Stand for the Clutch?" Ellaira watched him carefully, trying to gauge his reaction. Maybe he would finally give her answers... or maybe he'd finally be tired enough of the squeaking wheel to give her some oil. She was a determined woman.

((I'm so sorry for the delay!! I promise I'll do better next time <3 ))