+ One (clutching)

[stolenhart]

"Astoth love do you want to go to Benden and pick up a Harp....", Ilayria paused in the middle of the gold's weyr looking at the empty couch. Astoth love, where are you?, she asked, turning on her heel. I am busy, the dragon replied, all her concentration elsewhere. Busy? Doing what?, sometimes Astoth was known to sneak away and either chase the herdbeasts in the feeding grounds, for the fun of it, or sit by the Weyrling barracks and watch the new Weyrlings at lessons. Today it seemed like she was doing neither one. Arrow chirped curiously from his spot on the bed then disappeared between. "Now where is he going?", Ilayria murmured.

Where are you?, she asked the dragon again. It was the flitt who replied with excitement and scenes of the Hatching Grounds and Astoth. "You are clutching!", the woman exclaimed outloud taking off at a run for the Hatching grounds. Astoth was a sevenday early and she hoped nothing was wrong with the gold. By the time she made it to the sands one lone egg was already sitting on the sand as Astoth began to cover it with sand. "Wait", Ilayria called sprinting across the sand to the egg. "I want to check it first", the dragon harumphed and stepped back, letting her rider check the still soft egg over. "It seems ok", she finally said, helping her gold shovel sand over the egg. Arrow landed on the sand near the egg and tried to help but the tiny flitt just wasn't doing much to help with brought a smile to Ilayria's face.

[maiwolf]

B’oone had unwillingly taken the day off. The day before he’d gotten a headache, as well as the day before that. Because of that, B’oone decided to give himself a day—or at least a couple hours—off. In the morning, he had spent time with illayria, but Illayria had work to do. So he decided today to spend time with the other woman in his life, Manna. He walked through the lower caverns, trying unsuccessfully to ignore Target in the process. The young green fire-lizard had boundless energy, and, even after she had eaten, she was always flitting around everywhere. She was quite unlike her blue brother.

B’oone stopped at the living quarters of the woman who took care of Manna. The girl had somehow known that B’oone was coming. She threw open the door and all but jumped into his arms. “Daddy! I knew you was comin’ today! And you brought Target!” B’oone hugged his daughter to him, and smiled as Target landed—for once—on Manna’s curly blond head to look down at the little girl. Manna pushed away from B’oone just a bit to look at his face, “Where’s Brennie?”

B’oone’s smile widened, “It’s a good thing you asked, little one!” He said, standing and twirling her around happily, “Brennie and I are going to spend the whole day with you!”

Manna’s eyes sparkled with delight, “All day? Will we get to see the pretty gold?”

B’oone started out of the lower caverns holding Manna, or rather, trying to hold her bouncy form. Outside, Manna squealed when she saw Brennanth. B’oone let her run to him, and the Bronze helped the fearless girl onto his back. Brennanth’s eyes whirled in happy tones. She is happy today.

[/b] To which B’oone answered sarcastically, ‘I wonder why.’ Brennanth, not getting the sarcasm, answered, Well, you just said you’d spend the whole day with her.[/b] B’oone, wisely, did not answer.

The four were making their way to the lake when Manna suddenly called fearfully down to B’oone, “Daddy, where’d Tar go?”

B’oone looked up to see Manna waving her arms frantically. Brennanth’s eyes were whirling anxiously, Tell her to sit still, she will fall![/b] B’oone deftly climbed onto his Bronze’s back and steadied his daughter. “What’s wrong?” Manna pointed to the empty air, “Tar’s not here! She left!” B’oone was confused until he realized that Manna had given Target a nickname: Tar.

Target is telling me about round stones.[/b] Brennanth said, confusion lacing his voice. “Stones?” Shiny stones, like they were just washed or something. And some sort of gold color…[/b] B’oone sat up straight, realization dawning on him. “Brennanth, Astoth is clutching!”

Brennanth bugled, though it was low, She didn’t tell me![/b] B’oone patted his Bronze’s hide, “It’s okay, Brennanth. She probably just started.” But Brennanth stalked to the Hatching grounds, the two humans unwillingly following. “Daddy, where are we going?” Manna asked.

But the girl became speechless when she saw Astoth. She didn’t care that the gold was laboring, she just saw the most wonderful golden creature ever. “Lookie, it’s Astoth and My Illie!” She cried, and bounced up and down on Brennanth’s back. B’oone took Manna in his arms and slid off the Bronze.

“Illie!” He cried out, trying to keep the bouncing girl in his arms. At the same time as Manna saying, “Lookie, I found Tar!” He said, “She’s a sevenday early!” He stopped a few feet away, set the girl down, gently, and told her to stay away from the gold. After Manna promised to do so, he strode forward to look at Illayria and then the gold before glancing down at the one egg. “Why is she so early?”
[/blockquote]

[stolenhart]

Brennanth comes, Astoth announced to her rider as she hissed a bit and laid another egg. This one was slightly smaller than the first egg and Ilayria checked it quickly before helping the gold cover it with sand. Now that Target was around Arrow was up in the corner of the rafters sulking. He didn't much care for his green clutchmate but mostly because a)she was female and b)she was attached to the one man Arrow loved. Absolutely without concessions loved. Ilayria was loved to but it was like the way a child loves a parent, B'oone was not parents though and Arrow hated Target for always being around the man.

Astoth eyed the young girl curiously while B'oone asked his questions to Ilayria. The gold might be selfish and jealous and moody prior to laying but sh wasn't at all egg jealous, not since her first clutch and Hatching anyway, and she didn't mind people gawking at her eggs just don't touch. She laid two more in quick order before walking over to Brennanth and touching noses with him, leaving the humans to cover the two new eggs. "Four so far, she is moving right along", Ilayria noted, running a hand through her short hair. Such a short time on the sands and she was already sweating through her boots.

"I don't know why she is early. The beast didn't even tell me she was clutching Arrow had to go and do that. These four eggs seem to be in good condition so maybe she is just having a large clutch", Ilayria mused walking over to him and kissing his cheek. "Have Brennanth tell Brylorea's dragon Astoth is clutching so Bry will have to take over my chores today", Ilayria asked him befoer wondering over to Manna. "And how are you today Manna? Is this your first clutching?"

[saidaltam]

There was a whistle on Kalley's lips as he wandered along the edge of the bowl, having, as he did, a few hours off before he next had to report for chores. As he passed before the sands, however, his whistling died off and he stopped, peering inside. "Eggs?" he whispered, edging closer. Though he didn't set foot quite onto the sands, he did settle himself into the doorway, watching with wide, bright eyes. Well! It would seem that his notion of coming to stand was not imprudent at all! Oh, but this was delightful! He'd have to tell Kirnin as soon as he could! He supposed he'd probably have to tell Trevan, too, but the little brat could wait until after he'd told Kirnin. She was more important, anyhow.

[stolenhart]

Astoth turned from Brennanth and gave a sort of whiny cough as two more eggs appeared on the sands. She turned to cover then and Ilayria raced across the sands, "Stop that", she ordered the gold who harumphed and contiue to wander about the sands for moment, inspecting the hot ground. The two eggs were in perfect condition, larger than the previous four and a nice even color. Ilayria touched their soft skins gently before heaping sand on them. "Six so far. Hopefully twenty", Ilayria mused and a gold egg would be nice, it would give B'oone a much needed confidence booster.

[maiwolf]

Brennanth looked at the eggs he had helped create, and felt pride swell inside him. Four eggs, four wonderful—early, but wonderful—eggs! He purred deep in his throat and touched noses tenderly with his mate. He had no thoughts other than her, not of anything but her and the eggs. He didn’t even think of the future, which dragons did rarely anyway. He did not think that, only a few months from now, Astoth would rise again, and she might not pick him then. If that happened, Brennanth would be crushed, and B’oone could only look at Ilayria from afar.

Meanwhile, B’oone kissed ilaria back on her cheek. To some it could have been a nice return-gesture. To b’oone it meant something more. There was something there, something that Ilayria felt that wasn’t quite showing through yet. B’oone could tell just because of that kiss. Ilayria never showed much affection to him, and whether that was because of her stubbornness or not, he didn’t know. He’d been trying to get her out of her selfishness from day one, but had quickly given up. Ilaria without her selfishness or stubbornness was not Ilayria at all. And B’oone loved Ilaria selfeshness and all, even if it had taken him a while to realize that, and even if he was much older than her. Love from afar was, after all, different than love up close.

“Will do,” he tld his love when she told him to relay the message to Brylorea. He didn’t much like Bry, but could live with her. He stared wistfully after Ilaria when she went to speak to Manna. Then he turned to Brennanth, ‘Dragon, stop mooning over Astoth and listen to me,’ B’oone thought kindly, ‘You need to tell Brylorea’s queen that Bry—‘ Done.

[/b] ‘What?’ I did it when you were ogling over your mate. B’oone blinked. Brennanth was a good Weyrleader dragon, that was for sure. You need to do something; your mind’s all muddled. Go play a trick.[/b] There were only two times when Brennanth told B’oone to do tricks: when he knew what was best for his rider, and when he wanted B’oone out of his way. This was one of the former times. B’oone sighed, ‘I’m Weyrleader now, I doubt the Weyr would like it if I pranked them.’ They never found out before. Or are you getting sloppy?[/b] B’oone looked at Ilaria with Manna, his two favorite women, and couldn’t do it. ‘Not now, Bren, not now.’

Manna grinned at Ilaria, “G’day, My Illie!” Manna’d been using that phrase with B’oone, but she hadn’t said it to Ilayria yet. It was funny, really, how a little kid could take possession of a grown woman—the senior Weyrwoman, no less—but no matter what Ilayria might say later, she was always going to be ‘My Illie,’ or at least until the name changed. “I’m doin’ fine. Daddy was gunna spend the whole day with me, but a clutch’s fine, too. This’s my first one, it’s so exciting!” Manna bounced on the heels of her feet.

“Oh!” The little blond cried, smiling, her fair hair bouncing all around her head. If you wouldn’t have known it, you’d have said she was Ilayria and B’oone’s daughter. “I didn’t wanna bring Fathy today—he’d get all dirty—so I left’d him on my bed. He’s so lazy!” She giggled and spun in a circle. “I’m so happy today!” Then she spied Arrow up in the rafters. “My Illie? Why is Arrow up there? He’s not happy for a clutching?”

When Ilayria raced away from her, Manna pouted. And sat down. Nothing else to do.[/blockquote]

(( You posted out of turn! >>; ))

[stolenhart]

Illayria came back to Manna to answer her question about Arrow. "Arrow doesn't like Target, your daddy's flitt. I think he's jealous of her", she explained. Who would have thought Arrow's feelings towards B'oone mirrored Ilayria's own? Certainly not the Weyrwoman who barely gave her feelings towards her weyrmate a second thought. If she had thought about it she probably come to the conclusion she loved B'oone. She didn't think about it though because her first thought, whenever she entertained thoughts about love, was that B'oone couldn't love her, they'd only been together for three months now. And she wasn't going to admit she had any feelings for him unless he did so first.

Astoth gave a snort as she stepped away from her clutch, laying three more eggs in quick succession. "Astoth!", Ilayria said sharply. "You are having these poor things all over the grounds". Since Northern's Sands were big enough to host four clutching golds it made no sense for the gold to take over the entire Sands. I can do what I want. They are my eggs afterall, the gold retorted, then to get back at her rider she said to Brennenath, Mine will be clutching soon herself, she replied cryptically turning her nose up in the air and laying another egg.

"Astoth!" Ilayria shrieked, looking up from examining an egg. I will beat you with needlethorn, the gold snorted her opinion of that statement and went back to her mate, curling up at his feet for a moment resting from the ten eggs she had just finished laying. We don't know for sure, she admonished the gold, who blinked her eyes before nuzzling her bronze mate.

[Femisis]

“I’ll never get this smell off me…” Crescentia grumbled, wrinkling her nose in distaste. A small mishap in the kitchen, surprisingly, not her fault, had left her soaked in tonight’s dinner, a strong, but not unpleasant smelling meat stew. The kitchen staff had been kind enough to allow her to go clean up and change her clothes before returning for her chores, but she was convinced that no amount of scrubbing would get the smell off. She’d be walking around like this for weeks…

Hair still wet, she stuck close to the edge of the bowl as she headed back toward the lower caverns. She’d be in for it if she didn’t come back as much as she didn’t want to, so it was just best to bite the bullet and go. A familiar face stopped her part of the way there. Hmm… chatting for a few minuets wouldn’t hurt, would it? Besides, he needed a telling off after the deplorable way he’d treated his brother. Trevan wasn’t all that bad, after all.

“Fancy seeing you here.” Cresce drawled dryly as she came up behind Kalley. Why was he looking at the sands, anyway? It’s not like there was anything there except, well, sand. After failing miserably to look over his shoulder, she opted for peering around him to see inside. “Astoth is clutching?” She gasped, her heart racing. Oh, Faranth, PLEASE let there be a Queen egg in there… “Why haven’t you told anyone about this?” She asked Kalley accusingly once the momentary natural high had worn off. “It’s not like you’re the only one who wants to know.”

[saidaltam]

Kalley flashed Crescentia a wry, secretive smile. "Because I don't think the new mother will much like being swarmed by the entire giggling, giddy Weyr while she's still clutching," he replied quietly. "Besides, don't you suppose the new daddy might want to notify the Weyr himself? Or Mommy, when she finishes. It's not my place to steal their thunder." He grinned at her, then looked back at the eggs.

He'd never seen anything like this, before. Runner birthings were much more... painful-looking. Also, there was generally only one product.

[Femisis]

"True..." Cresce replied with a frown as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Still, you know some big mouth is going to find out and broadcast it to the entire Weyr." She added matter of factly as she watched the egg laying from her position next to Kalley. The last(and first) time she'd seen dragon eggs was at the last hatching, but she hadn't gotten a very good look at them once she'd been shoved to the back of the female's group.

"I don't think I've ever seen eggs this big." She commented, voice laced with pure awe at the sight. "What do you think's inside?" She asked Kalley casually, looking for a reason to keep talking. She wasn't going to back to the kitchens until Astoth was done laying even if the staff tried to drag her back down there.

[maiwolf]

Manna looked up at the small blue dot on the rafters, her head tilted curiously. Could someone love her Daddy more than she loved him? Could they love him unconditionally, without reserve, and not caring about his pranks and jokes; love him how he was? Could there be more than just Manna who loved Daddy like that? Of course not! Manna was the only one, or so her childish mind told her. The girl laughed, “No one can love Daddy as much as me, though!” She stood up again, quickly looking for Target. The girl loved Target. She whistled, and Target appeared, landed on the girl’s shoulder for a second, and then flitted away. Target was too hyper for her own good. “Who do you think Target likes?” Manna asked curiously.

B’oone, who had drifted closer to Manna and Ilayria, listened to their conversation. He snorted, shaking his head. It was as if Target was a wild fire-lizard who just happened to always ask B’oone for food and attention. He wasn’t sure if she liked anyone or not, though she must have felt something toward both him and Manna.He laughed at Astoth and Ilayria. It was true—Astoth was making full use of the expansive grounds. “She just sees all of that open space, and she loves it.” B’oone said aloud, shrugging. He was rather enjoying today.

Huh, Brennanth said, tilting his head to the side. Either he was learning form Manna, or Manna had copied him, because the two had almost the exact same pose when they tilted their heads. ‘What is it, dragon?’ B’oone asked. This is what Astoth just said. It is confusing me—

[/b] ‘Everything confuses you, dragon.’ B’oone interjected. Do you want to hear or not?[/b] B’oone was silent: he did want to hear. Well, Astoth said this: ‘Mine will be clutching soon herself.’ But it confused me because humans don’t clutch.[/b]

B’oone turned to Ilayria. Everything clicked. Okay, well, not everything—B’oone still didn’t know why Pern rotated around Rukbat and all that philosophical crap, but enough to make him smile. He covered the few feet between Ilayria with only one step, and, still smiling like a lunatic, grabbed Ilayria in his arms. He hugged her—the first real hug he’d given her in a while. When he released his Weyrmate, he searched her eyes, “Is this true, are you pregnant?” He asked, joy sparkling in his eyes. A baby! If Ilayria was pregnant, that meant it could be his son—but he didn’t know if she’d been sleeping with anyone else or not. B’oone, on the other hand, never slept with anyone other than Ilayria, or had been as intimite with anyone other than Ilayria… ever.[/blockquote]

[stolenhart]

Ilayria gave a squeal as B'oone picked her up in a very rough hug. "Put me down", she ordered him playfully, a secretive smile on her face. "I am not sure yet. It's been a little over two months but I haven't been sick yet", she chewed on her lip for a moment, "but I have been eating some stuff I don't usually eat and feeling tired. I was going to the Healer today but Astoth", she jerked her head in the direction of the gold who was smugly resting for a moment, 'I told you so' written all over her body. "I suppose she would know though, she's been pregnant more times than me", she added.

Noticing that Target had disappeared for a moment, Arrow came down from his lofty perch to see what his persons were up to. Obviously it was happy feelings so the flitt chirped and burbled and whistled while he landed on B'oone's shoulder. "There you are little one", Ilayria said, reaching for the flitt. "Just keep it amongst ourselves until we are sure. With this clutching I won't be able to go between so if I am, we will know soon enough", she admonished him, before mentally urging the flitt over to Manna.

Arrow chirped and landed at the little girl's feet offering her a small pebble to play with. Then he darted off to gather another and another and before soon there was a little pile on the sand. "He wants to play pretend clutch, just cover them with sand until he is bored", Ilayria told the girl as she wandered away from B'oone to check how the laid eggs were setting up.

[saidaltam]

"Dragons," Kalley replied, a small, joking smile crossing his face, before sobering up and pursing his lips. "With as big as they are... probably mostly bigger colors, but I didn't think that happened much, did it? Maybe just big dragons, in spite of their colours. That'd be good, anyway, wouldn't it?" He considered this for a long moment, then shrugged. "When the runners would birth a big foal, it generally grew into a big runner, eventually, so I can only suppose it probably works the same way with dragons, don't you suppose? I wouldn't mind riding a bigger dragon. That'd be nice, I think." All of this was uttered in soft, almost reverent tones.

"And," he added after a long moment of just watching the display, "I suppose we'll just have to see to it that no big mouth is allowed more than ten feet away from these doors without a gag until she's done, then, won't we?" From what he could see, it seemed like the Weyrwoman and Weyrleader were happy with Astoth's clutching, as well, the way he was hugging her, so he supposed it must look just as amazing from inside the caverns as it did from out here. He wasn't about to let anyone spoil this for them, either.

[Femisis]

With a sigh, Crescentia rolled her eyes and punched Kalley lightly on the arm. "Of course dragons are going to come out of them, dimglow. What do you expect, wherries?" She snorted in amusement. "Big dragons, no matter the color, would be welcome now, even big Greens. The more we have, the better off we are, really." She added, cocking a brow at his talk of Runners. Maybe he was from Ruatha or something. She'd have to ask soon... "You'd be nuts to try and get me near a birthing runner. I'll ride them, feed them, take care of them, but NEVER help them give birth." She shuddered a bit, then shook it off. She wasn't a wuss, but it wouldn't take a whimp to admit that it was a nerve-wracking and disgusting affair. Same with people. She'd be the worst midwife to ever hit Pern if that had been her calling. "Well, at least you can possibly attain that dream. My options for Impression are a bit limited, though Faranth knows I wouldn't mind Impressing a Bronze. Green or Gold, maybe Blue. Not much of a choice." It didn't quite hit her that she'd just told him something that she'd never even told her mother. She'd never told anyone that she wanted to Impress a Bronze, even if being Weyrwoman was just a tad higher on the list.

A gag, huh? That could be arranged... "Well, I suppose we can't let anyone else near, then. The kitchen staff will understand, I'm sure. I mean, the happiness of our dear Weyrwoman and Weyrleader trumps my chores, right?" She said plesantly, though her grin was just a bit mischevious. "They don't need me down there, anyway. Besides, I'm learning so many things here, like how the Weyrwoman may be expecting..."

[saidaltam]

"Birthing runners aren't so bad as all that. Mostly, they do all the work. You just have to make sure they're okay, after, most of the time. And if something goes wrong, you need a real beastcrafter to handle it, anyway, so you just need to be able to notice," Kalley replied dismissively.

Then, he blinked, turned slowly, and stared at Crescentia. "Expecting?" he repeated softly, sounding faintly stunned. "Really? Did I miss something?" He turned again to look in, but the woman's stomach didn't seem to be swollen even slightly, that he could tell, so she didn't look pregnant...

[Femisis]

"Which is why I'm here as a candidate and not out becoming a Beastmaster." Cresce replied with an amused snort. "It's just too messy." She cringed at the thought of all the blood and fluids. It was a natural process, sure, but it was still kind of disgusting.

"Oh, relax, you wherry brained fool. If you'd been LISTENING, Ilarya isn't sure, but she might be." Crescentia replied with a sigh. Men... If was just for this reason that it was a good thing women ran the Weyr. If they didn't, Pern would have gone to the canines TURNS ago.

[saidaltam]

Kalley smiled wryly at Crescentia. "Good thing you're willing to listen for me, then," he replied mildly. "I'd rather watch the egg laying and let you catch all the juicy bits of talk." He winked at her, an odd expression on his darkly somber face, then went back to watching the egg laying with a chipper smile. He decided then that he liked Crescentia. She was a nice enough girl, and reminded him, a little bit, of Kirnin, which was brownie points in his book (no pun intended). Not too hard on the eyes, either, now he thought about it. Well, lucky him to have her company, then!

[Femisis]

Oh Faranth, he was doing the winking thing. Whenever they started winking at her, she knew she was stuck with an admirer. Then again, some of them only wanted to be friends, so it really was unfair to jump to conclusions. Better to wait and see before chasing him off in the literal sense. Kalley was alright as far as guys went, so if he just wanted to be friends, she could live with it. "You know, maybe we should make some bets on the clutch. We do have a bit of an advantage, so maybe we could try and make some marks off of it." She suggested out of the blue after a few minuets. It wouldn't hurt to make some money, especially if it was coming from the older riders and others who fancied themselves more experienced.

[saidaltam]

Kalley grew quiet and contemplative at that, straightening to stare thoughtfully toward the ceiling of the hatching sands. After a long moment, he said, "That may be the best idea I've heard all week. I like that idea." He flashed her a bright smile, then. He was fond of bright people. It was always a delight to meet another one.

Then something struck him. "Uh... is someone already running a betting pool, and if so... whom?"

[maiwolf]

B’oone listened to Ilayria’s explanation, and laughed, “Eating what stuff you usually don’t eat? Have you been eating raw meat like Astoth again?” Again was not exactly true, Ilayria had never eaten raw meat like Astoth as far as B’oone had known. He glanced over at Astoth as Ilayria did, and nodded, “Of course, always trust a gold’s instincts, and I mean that in a non-joking way.” B’oone felt Arrow land on his shoulder, and he unconsciously started to pet the small-blue firelizard. But Arrow left B’oone to play with Manna.

B’oone still hadn’t figured out that this could be his child. Okay, he’d figured it out, he just hadn’t really… well, let’s just say it hit him. If Ilayria was pregnant, then that meant that, well, with his overly happy mind, he couldn’t fathom what that meant right now. Except he did know that he would be a father. And Ilayria would be the mother. He grinned lopsidedly, “Yes, I suppose we will know soon enough.” He said, pointedly. But a thought entered his mind, and before he could forget about it, he blurted it out. A frown creased his once-happy face. “Ilayria, suppose you are pregnant. Would you go between to get rid of the baby?” He didn’t want that, not at all. It didn’t just mean that he didn’t want his child to die, it was the fact that he never wanted any life to die unnecessarily. Ever.

After Ilayria gave Manna a small explanation of what Arrow was doing, she wandered away from the father and daughter. B’oone followed her, running his hand through his hair. “Want me to help with anything?” He asked, for he felt funny just wandering around aimlessly.

Meanwhile, Manna squatted down and looked at the small fire-lizard as he formed a small clutch. She laughed, “You’re not a female!” But she fell on her butt anyway and obediently scooped sand over the ‘eggs’ Arrow had already laid. Arrow was ‘laying’ more and more eggs, enough to fulfill any actual ‘queen.’ There were at least… well, Manna couldn’t really count that high, but at least more than ten!