How Much Longer? - Open-

[stolenhart]

"How much longer do you think?", Ilayria asked her dragon, running a sandy scrub brush across the gold's hide. Days, the dragon sighed attempting to roll her eyes and not suceeding. Astoth was not one of those golds who did well being egg-heavy. Up until the point the eggs started showing she was good, better than actually, but when the first tiny bulges started appearing she became lethargic, picky, sarcastic and mean. "Days?", Ilayria was as impatient as her dragon, with the gold's emotions feeding her own. And truthfully Ilayria was a bit worried herself for herself but that could wait until she knew for sure one way or the other.

"Well at least you look pretty", Ilayria told her dragon in a teasing tone though she meant it truthfully. Physically wise being egg-heavy suited the queen. Her hide glowed with a color that was not a result of her natural coloring and everywhere she went she moved with a boneless grace. It was only her attitude that ruined the picture. "Or will when I get done with you", she amended scrubbing at the hide once more.

[phlysolo]

Atoth is close, Bry. The larger of the two golds of the Northern Weyr said to her rider. It was one of the rare days that Brylorea found enough time in the day to simply take the junior gold out for a fly and they had swooped over the lake, deciding to have another go around the Weyrbowl before landing. As usual, Nyonth saw the point of interest before her rider did and Brylorea turned her attention all the way down, seeing the rather puffed up senior queen in the lake. The small dot next to her in the water was no doubt her rider.

Yes, she is. It'll be any day now, I bet. I somehow doubt that Atoth will bear a daughter. It was her first Flight and all, Brylorea replied, adjusting herself in her straps, feeling the familiar twinge of jealousy in her chest. Why hadn't it been Nyonth up first? The bronze Nyonth would have picked would have been able to steal that gold away from the South!

Take us down, will you? Bry said abruptly and Nyonth instantly complied, easing herself into a graceful descending turn. The old trumpeted a greeting to the other gold, feeling a little of her rider's resentment inside of her, though, like Bry, she didn't let on that she was envious that Atoth had beaten her to the skies.

"'Lo, Ilayria, Atoth is looking gorgeous," The junior Weyrwoman called, neatly extracting herself from her riding straps and easily sliding down Nyonth's forleg as the gold bent slightly so that Brylorea could dismount. "She's showing, I see!"

Hello, Atoth.

And indeed the smaller gold was. Though not from personal experience, Brylorea knew that an Egg-heavy queen was a snappish one and both Nyonth and Brylorea knew that they'd better watch their steps if they didn't want an Egg-induced knuckle sandwich.

"I'll bet you're excited," Bry continued, hoping to stroke the other goldrider's ego.

[stolenhart]

Nyonath comes, Astoth sent her rider refusing to search skyward for her fellow gold. Where the animosity between the two golds had come from Ilayria didn't know maybe it stemmed from her own cool neutrality of Brylorea or maybe it was a natural function of golds to feel peevish towards others in their territories. Either way Astoth had never warmed up to Nyonath. "Thank you and yes", Ilayria replied, shielding her eyes to watch her junior Weyrwoman before returning back to her gold, "She just started showing this last sevenday or so". Round humps showed clearly along the golds midsection constantly moving as the dragon breathed and moved herself. As long as they were visible there was still time, when the humps were barely noticable meant it was close to clutching time.

Hello, Astoth replied to her fellow gold, cool and calm. "I am a bit yes. More dragons would always be lovely. And another gold", Ilayria paused in scrubbing. Another gold would mean they could move a wing to Ista Weyr and reopen it, have two places to attack Southern. That had been the plan before their gold egg had been stolen. With four Weyrs in the north abandoned to tunnelsnakes and whers there was plenty of room to expand and grow. "well I am just hoping for a good number of fighting dragons".

[Femisis]

Once again seeped in chores(she'd been given kitchen duty to keep her from grumbling.), Crescentia was actually getting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. She was nearly done helping with the preparations for dinner, so if she finished soon, she'd have a decent about of free time on her hands until the evening meal came around. It didn't help much that she honestly didn't know what to do with herself until then, but she'd figure something out. She was a smart girl, after all, even if she lacked a bit in the common sense department. "Shardit!" She shouted, dropping the knife to suck on her thumb where she had sliced into it instead of the potato she had been peeling. The juices were already making her finger sting as she sucked harder, trying to get the bleeding to stop. One of the women nearby took pity on her hand handed her a strip of cloth to place on the cut which she accepted gratefully. "That's what I get for letting my attention wander..." She muttered to herself as she tied the rag around her thumb and picked up the knife to resume peeling. Fortunately, it didn't take her that much longer to finish and, with a triumphant look on her face, handed the full basket of peeled vegatables to one of the cooks and fairly pranced away in glee. It didn't last long, however, as the old problem returned: What to do now, though? There weren't many people to hand out with, unless she could find Trevan or Kalley, thought he odds of that happening were slim right now. Well, maybe she could just go sit by the lake for a bit. A little R and R never hurt anyone, right?

Checking to make sure she wouldn't bleed all over her tunic(not that it was a nice one, but who wanted to walk around covered in bloodstains?), she headed down the right hand corridor toward the weyrbowl, running into many people on the way. Through this, she heard via grapevine that not one, but both Queens and their riders were out at the lake, bathing from the sounds of it. Now, Cresce didn't want to disturb them, but the more she thought about it, the better an idea it sounded to keep going. First off, if she was planning to Impress, she needed to become used to being around dragons. Sure, she saw them flying about all the time, but standing next to one? She hadn't been near a dragon since she'd been brought here by the Blue searchdragon. That, and it couldn't hurt to get to know the Weyrwoman and Junior Weyrwoman at that. There might be a time when she needed a favor.

Despite her positive thinking, she felt slightly intimidated at the sight of the two massive dragons out by the lake. They were still far away, but, Faranth, they were huge...! "Get a grip." She growled to herself as she kept going, one foot in front of the other. "Dragons don't attack humans and you'll have to get used to it if you do Impress." She added, hoping that the verbal chiding would get the butterflies out of her stomach. It didn't, but there was no going back now, especially when they would see if she turned and ran. They weren't going to bite, were they? "Good afternoon, Weyrwoman, Junior Weyrwoman." She said in what she hoped was a proper greeting, bowing to each of them in turn, then, as an afterthought, to their dragons. Astoth caught her eye, though, mostly due to her bulging middle. She did look different, a bit brighter maybe, which seemed to give basis to when people said that an expecting mother glows. "Astoth looks lovely." She blurted out before she could stop herself. Shards, this wasn't turning out as she'd hoped at all.