Thieving Wench-Lenia

[strawberrylush]

Minirith landed on the sandy shores, giving her rider a disapproving look. We should not be here. They will kill us, the dragon sent to her rider, glancing around. Ille glanced around herself and shrugged, before dismounting. "And? I won't go far", she promised, "Just far enough to see the girls they've brought in for that egg". Ille was here as a thief. She knew a few of these girls might wind up like her, placed on a boat and shipped North. Her brother had passed her the black and white silks of Southern Weyr so she could come back but that was the only thing she had of him. It had been eight turns since she had seen him but thank Faranth she'd never come across him in battle.

Still they had been identical all their lives and that couldn't have changed much over the Turns. They used to joke they'd been born in the wrong bodies since Ille favored girls and I'lan boys. It had broke their mother's heart, if only she knew Ille had her own daughter, product of a flight two turns ago. Minirith snorted, How did I let you talk me into this?, the dragon asked, settling herself into the sand as Ille tucked her helmet lower over her eyes and set off for the Weyr. She'd grown up here, loved the south, lived by it's honor code and then they had turned on her. Useless bunch of snivellers. The North was her home now, she had made friends and a new life there. They hadn't condemned her. She would do what she get revenge on her ex-home. Stealing their candidates was one such way.

[phlysolo]

It was a very quiet day at the Southern Weyr. Most of the Weyr's fighting population had been sengt airborne and away from the Weyr to do wide sweeps at the very edges of their territorial border. That being said, only a couple of bronzes, browns, and blues were lingering around the Weyr to stand guard over the Hatching Caverns, protecting their precious Eggs. As a Candidate, Lenia herself was supposed to be on watch for any suspicious looking activity; with the Eggs so close to Hatching, no one wanted to take any chances that would risk the Eggs getting taken back North.

The real question was: Did Lenia give a hoot whether or not the South got themselves another gold? No, frankly, she didn't. The gold would never Impress to her, as her orientation would drive the Hatchling away from her. On top of that, she sincerely doubted that she had the personality to draw the gold to herself. Indeed, she'd be lucky to even catch the eye of a sharding green. Ugh! Green! What an insult! She couldn't believe that in all honesty, a green was all she was good for. She, Lenia, who came from a bluerider's stock. Lenia, whose predecesor Impressed a gold!

Scowling as her train of thought once again returned to the Hatching she'd soon participate in, Lenia slumped down onto the sandy shore. It really wasn't fair at all that all she'd ever become in late was nothing more than a measly greenrider. Shaking her head, she turned her cruel blue gaze upwards, watching as a small speck in the sky became larger...and larger. Not just a speck, she realized, watching as it took shape from a small dot to a, by Faranth, a dragon! Who had come back so early?

She sat up quickly, trying to see if she could tell who that rider was. Even from this distance she knew instinctively that whoever it was wasn't a Southern rider. The dragon looked different...perhaps not in size, but different nonethless and Lenia knew that she would have recognized instantly any greenrider who liked in such close proximity as herself. As the dragon made to land, Lenia saw that the rider who dismounted was much more feminine looking than any male greenrider the South boasted. Hm...curious.

Interest getting the better of her, Lenia stood and crept along the shore, staying low and close to the jutting rocks along the beach. Who was this rider? Why would a Northerner have sneaked into the South and made no attempt to get to the Hatching Grounds? Was this rider going to call in fo-wait! As Lenia came to an abrupt stop, she saw that the man looked too feminine to be a man. A female greenrider venture to the South? Ridiculous. What was her purpose?

Lenia knew, of course, what the punishment for Impressing a fighting dragon was for females so she couldn't understand at all why a fighting female rider would come to a place where they would risk their lives and suffer humiliation at the hands of the Southern Weyr. With this in mind, she highly doubted that this woman was here for the Eggs, or to scout out territory and the like. Perhaps she...perhaps she was here to strike a treaty or something...

Carefully, she moved around the rock, trying to find a better vantage point. Her foot, however, caught in some seaweed clinging to the rock's bottom and tripped her up. Gasping loudly with the sudden surprise and shock, she tumbled forward onto the sand. Shard it, shard it! she thought, grimacing, and trying to struggle to her feet as quickly as possible so not to give the rider an opportunity to rush at her and slit her throat, preventing Lenia from giving her position away. But her foot...her foot remain tangled in the slimy mess of the seaweed, preventing her from standing immediately.

[strawberrylush]

Why do you have to be so ornery? Can't you just support me quietly?, Ille asked glancing around. It seemed faintly quiet, too quiet, but then everywhere was quiet now. It seemed like both Weyrs were taking deep breathes waiting for the storm to break. If I supported you quietly you would get bored. By the way you ought to go look by the rocks. It might be worthwhile, the dragon said, glancing in the direction. She rose to her won feet, holding her wings close against her body. Her lithe green form was covered in faint scores and scores, legacy of several turns of fighting.

Ille frowned and checked her knife in it's sheath, one could never be too cautious. She crept forward. Minirith's large form creeping along behind her until she popped over the rock and saw a girl struggling in the seaweed. "Minirith there is no way. Look at her", Look at her indeed. Can we take her with us?, the green asked, She will be wasted here. "I don't know dearheart. We'll see. I'm Ille", she turned back to the girl, offering her a gloved hand to help her up. "And she's Minirith a Search dragon".

[phlysolo]

Cursing mentally, Lenia was finally forced to whip out her belt knife and slice through the thick weed to free herself. Jerking her booted foot away from the rock's edge, not wanting to repeat the incident. Hoping that the greenrider hadn't seen what had happened, she began struggling to her feet, her pale face pulled into a twisted snarl of humiliation. As she glanced up, her worst fears were confirmed: The woman had probably not only seen, but she was making her way closer to silence Lenia before she could prove to be a threat to her or her dragon.

Wary, she didn't quite pull herself up to her feet, glaring viciously at the pair who were making conversation amongst themselves, probably deciding how best to murder her and if it would be easier to dump her corpse /between/ or feed it to the sharks lurking in Pern's vast oceans.Carefully while their attention was not quite on Lenia, she adjusted her hand carefully, concealing her blade from their view by tucking it just behind her thigh. She wasn't going down without a fight, she was going to make that whore greenrider suffer to the very last until she herself was too badly mangled to continue to defend herself. Yes, if this greenrider wanted her dead, she'd have to suffer the consequences. Only too bad she wasn't one of those types who could hear each dragon as it spoke or else she'd have called upon the assistance of other riders by now...

"Of course you're Ille," Lenia said, her voice heavy with sarcasm when the greenrider finally returned her attention back to herself. A hateful smile curled on her lips before she spoke again,"And certainly that green of yours is a Search dragon."

The girl's grip tightened on her knife, "What do you think I am, some kind of dimglow? You come to the South Searching?. Yeah, right. More likely you're trying to find the best way in to steal your Egg back.

"And now that you've found some resistance, some unexpected flaw in the plan, you're going to try to win my trust so you can slice my throat while I'm not looking, right?"

[strawberrylush]

Ille laughed and Minirith snorted. "Actually I am here to see my brother. Minirith couldn't carry the egg back anyway. It takes a brown or bronze to do that", she replied with a shrug. She'd noticed the girl tucking the knife behind her leg but wisely refrained from mentioning it. What would it hurt to let the girl feel that she was one up? "You aren't really resistance by the way. Did you think you could take on a blooded rider and her dragon?", she asked, lifting one slim eyebrow. Ille had her brother's dark coloring and striking green eyes though I'tel usually wore a goatee and mustache instead of going clean shaven. She'd have been prettier with longer hair to soften the angles of her face but she was trying to impersonate her brother.

"As for stealing. I am here to steal female candidates", she shrugged. "My brother firmly believes in Southern policies except the no female rider one. It's because he's a sensitive kind of guy I guess", truthfully that was half of it. The other half was that Ille was one of those Impressed Southern riders gone North. They had been close growing up. Ille had thrown over her Southern upbringing completely for the North but I'tel would not, could not do that. He was Southern to the bone, which is why Ille only came to the South to see him when she was on official unofficial business.

We should take her with us. She really would be wasted down here, Minirith said, putting her head right into Lenia's space and giving her an appraising sniff. I bet she would do well in the North. Just like you, the green added retracting her head. "She says I should take you North with us, let you stand at our Hatching. Save you the two sevendays at sea and a Turn on Ista", Ille smiled at Lenia.