Bitter betrayal (open)

[Kisha-Ra]

For the moment all was quiet in the weyrbowl, it was one of those in between times of the day when most people were busy, but Idara had applied herself to her work with great energy this morning in an effort to distract herself, thus she was now idle, having run out of chores for the moment. Unfortunately that gave her time to concentrate on the news she wanted to ignore.

The gold weyrling sat perfectly openly in the bowl, though she could hardly hide anywhere with a rapidly growing gold dragon attending her, leaning her back against her young dragon’s side, her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms crossed on top of her knees, her chin rested on her folded arms and her face wore a frown of worry that occasionally flickered to a look of disbelief.

It was a good thing that Tuinth had decided to sleep a while, because Idara’s dragon was one of the primary topics of her worry. She had gotten word from her one contact to the high council that clutching dragons and the new colours were to be banned from the northern continent. That meant Idara and Tuinth too. Tuinth who should have been hope, and pride to someone other than Idara. Worse still she’d never be able to tell her family about Tuinth, they probably had the official report but Idara had hoped to one day be able to tell them about Tuinth’s personality, her achievements, how well she was growing, now it was an empty dream, hollow, like an empty egg never to hatch. Idara’s pale eyes filled with tears that were part bitter sorrow and part white-hot fury. Tuinth’s tail lashed once in her sleep as if she, too, knew of the betrayal.

[Yamamoto]

And'l was trugding through the weyrbowl. His usal thoughful look on his face. Hexeth followed close behind him. Though And'l was still shy and like to hide form people those who did see him would be able to tell he had a air of confendice about him that he didn't have before. And'l knew that it was due in large part to the night him and Uu'ian flew each other on the beach. Plus any emtions that came form that. He looked over into the conor to see a girl. She was crying. Next to her was the gold. And'l looked curiously for a second. Hexeth informed him She is one of Blumath's clucth siblings. And'l nodded softly and walked over to were the girl was. He crouched down in fornt of her for a moment. Hexeth who was right behind his rider cast a shadow over them both. He then reached out and put a hand on her shoulder and said " Are you alright. What's worng. Do you want to talk about it?"

[Kisha-Ra]

Idara heard footsteps moving across the weyrbowl, human ones and dragons ones, she ignored them, thinking it to be an older rider off on some duty or maybe one of the senior weyrlings carrying a message. She had no real interest in it, even when both sets of footsteps paused, it wasn’t that uncommon for people to be curious about her, though she didn’t see why when there were so many new colours about. She though no more of it when the steps resumed until a shadow fell over her.

Idara looked up into the face of an older boy she didn’t really recognise, she knew only as one of the senior weyrlings; the one with the shy blue. Despite the tears in eyes the girl still straightened her back and set her jaw stubbornly. ‘I-‘ Idara stopped, sniffed, and scrubbed at her face with one hand. A queen’s bonded did not snivel like a babe. ‘I heard some bad news.’ She temporised, she knew she should talk about her problems; how many times had she been told that it made things a bit better? But Idara wasn’t ready to entrust secres that she even kept from Tuinith, thus far, to someone she barely knew.

Tuinth stirred, either Idara’s thoughts or the presence of Hexeth and his rider had woken the young queen. Oh my Idara, you are upset. What has happened while I slept?[/color] Tuinth crooned to her bonded and wrapped a wing around Idara’s body as if it were an arm she could hug with, it made the gold look very awkward but she would put up with that it would save her Idara any anguish at all.

[Yamamoto]

And'l looked at the girl curiously for a moment. He sighed and shook his head. This girl needed some cheering up. Which was not his strong point. He looked back to Hexeth and said Love can you tell Tombath to get Uu'ian over here. The blue nodded and sent the message to his clucth brother. And'l turned his attention back to the girl and he sat down beside her and siad " What bad news did you hear. Come on you can tell me. I promise I won't tell anyone." He looked at her coriously. Though his voice was one that you could tell that you could trust. He hoped that she would.

[Kisha-Ra]

Idara shifted around so she could wrap her arms around Tuinth, or as much of Tuinth as could anyway. I didn’t mean to wake you love. It’s just some bad news. the girl told her dragon the same thing she said out loud. Now Idara I may be young but I am not as foolish as you seem to think.[/color] Tuinth scolded. You try to hide things from me but I have seen the colours of your heart. I will not be angry, I promise. I will always love you.[/color]

Idara sighed, Tuinth was right; quickly Idara did her best to explain so the gold could understand. In another place there are older dragons, older riders, they don’t like Allride Weyr. The high council say thread will never fall again and Weyrs are a drain on resources. They sent me to spy for them, probably others too but I don’t know them. I was to report all I could to them. Then I stood and Impressed you, I was still a spy though I still had my duties but I could make my family proud by being a good queenrider too. Now the council has said I can never go home, because you might pollute their dragons by being hatched from Renth’s clutch. Toward the end of her explanation Idara’s mental tone grew disgusted, what stupidity! I bet we’d be allowed back if one of the old golds hadn’t Flown.

Tuinth snorted indelicately, what stupidity indeed! Of course there will be thread, otherwise why are there dragons? Why do want to go back to a place of such silliness? Is that why you keep secrets from me, because you share what you know with others elsewhere? It seems a strange secret to keep, and see? I love you no less for it.[/color] No one else would like me if they found I was a spy. Idara replied setting her jaw mulishly, she was stubborn but she was also troubled, and angry, she had been loyal and what had it brought her? Exile, or so the council saw it. Was it traitorous to be disloyal to those who had already broken faith with you?

Idara, you are not the only one, where there is one of a thing there are usually more, and no one knows but you and others like you. Who will find out, and when, when something very bad happens? You could tell them now and save everyone the trouble.[/color] Tuinth was implacable and Idara looked surprised. How did you grow so wise so young? she asked. I’m a queen, it comes naturally to us.[/color] Tuinth replied. Idara giggled at her dragon’s pride.

The conversation between Idara and Tuinth had moved at the speed of thought, yet there had still been a lengthily pause while they hammered things out. ‘Okay, but you probably won’t like me much after you know.’ Idara warned. ‘I was sent here by the high council, to report on the new dragon colours, and especially the clutch that the ebony laid. I wanted to come, I always wanted to be a dragonrider and my father and grandfather always told me I’d make a good queenrider because I was so much like great aunt Irina. Now I have Tuinth and I know my family would be proud but I’ll never be able to go home because the council ruled against me, against clutching dragons, because of the mutations.’ Idara’s eyes blazed with pure fury as she got to end of her highly abbreviated story and she fixed them on And’l, waiting for his reaction.


Blithely ignorant, Uu’ian walked out into the bowl. And’l was fairly easy to spot being as he was with Hexeth, the pair of them appeared to be talking to the gold weyrling, or rather And’l seemed to be and Hexeth was there, Uu’ian could see the gold but not the girl from this angle. ‘Alright I’m here.’ He called cheerfully to And’l, interrupting without remorse. ‘I was only held up for a few minutes, you didn’t need to set the dragons on me.’ Uu’ian spoke with good humour and obvious affection.

[Yamamoto]

As And'l lisitined to her explaintion his eye's got wide. He could not believe what he was hearing. Though in his mind it did explain why it seemed like the council had not made a move yet. It was that they already had. At that moment Uu'ian showed up And'l with a smile on his face stood up and walked over to the other wyerling giving him a hug and kiss. Though he used that moment to wishper everything he had just found out into Uu'ian's ear. Then with a soft smile he moved back to his spot next to Idara. He looked at her though his features seemed to soft and he asked looked at her and said " Don't worry I don't hate you. I will tell my brother and he will tell the Weyrleader. Though don't worry about that. Bamre won't let them punish you. Netheir would Purth. It is good that you told us this becuase it explains a few things." And'l knew the conucil could not be dumb egough though to send just one spy. There had to be more. So he asked " Do you know who any of the others are or were you kept in the dark about that." He reached out and put his arm around her shoulder and said " Don't worry your one of us now. There is no reason to worry. We won't hurt you. One day thread will come back and when that happens. The conucil will need us. Then you can see your family again." Again And'l voice showed that you could obviously trust him.

[Kisha-Ra]

Uu’ian’s expression didn’t change as And’l went through a brief explanation of what he’d just heard from the gold weyrling. It did explain to him why And’l had the dragons call him, instead of just waiting for him to appear though. Even if he wasn’t sure what And’l expected him to do. For now he just sat down on the ground and watched and listened. Later it would all come together.

Idara bit her lip, sure And’l had just used the cover of that embrace with the other weyrling to give him at least a partial idea of what was going on, she would have, were their roles reversed. She was not surprised when both of them returned to her side though And’l continued to do all the talking.

Don’t worry? Well that was easy for him to say, Idara thought, he wasn’t the spy who was about to be revealed. Well if the weyrleaders were smart they wouldn’t shout it out, anyone could be a spy. Idara shook her head and shrugged. ‘Only the one I report to. They say it’s better if we don’t know who the others are, we can’t let it slip then.’ In the back of her mind she wondered why everyone here was so certain thread would fall again, Tuinth she could understand, a dragon’s purpose was to fight thread. But why the riders, the weyrfolk, even the holdfolk? And why were so many clutching females hatching now? Malaracyth wasn’t that old but already she had a queen daughter in Haith, plus Renth clutched like a queen, and Tuinth made four queen type clutchers in one place, and she’d overheard that Reinth had clutched one egg…

[Yamamoto]

And'l nodded his head and said " Well that is ture. Though you telling us that you are a spy revels more info then you think. Beside be gald you are here. Becuase if you were not then you would not have Tuinth. So you should at least be gald for that." He saw that the girl still seemed to be worring. He was not supirsed considering her sitution. He looked at Uu'ian and said " Uu'ian my love. You are pretty good about cheering people up. You think you could help her feel better." He smiled at her softly. He wished she would not be scared. No one was going to hurt her. Hexeth moved around and curled up next to Tuinth. Though he left pently of room for good reason. He sent to Tombath. Brother I fear that what is going on my attract more people. So would you come hid me like you always do.

[Kisha-Ra]

Idara looked doubtfully at Tuinth. ‘I only accepted this position because I wanted the chance to Impress, and because my family wanted me to. Well my father and grandfather did.’ She admitted.

Idara wasn’t really sure she appreciated the suggestion that she needed cheering up like a sulky child, or for that matter that And’l was talking about her as if she couldn’t hear. Oh don’t get like that. You are worrying too, much. He cares enough to try and make you happier, which is an advantage for me at least. I don’t want a grumpy rider.[/color] Tuinth refolded her wing and gave Idara an impatient look, there was only so much misery the young queen would tolerate at once.

Idara looked into And’l’s eyes, then Uu’ian’s as if she could see their thoughts that way. She saw no duplicity there, no hostility, was is possible they really weren’t angry? Tuinth looked up at Hexeth, something that she wouldn’t have to do for too much longer. I hope they can make my Idara happier; she values her sire’s opinion and that of his sire far too much.[/color] She said to Hexeth, not believing in the least that the blue was beneath her.


‘You only think that because you want to see me.’ Uu’ian objected. ‘Most people think I’m good at annoying them or confusing them or giving out headaches with my thinking out loud.’ Uu’ian noticed that the girl looked a bit more interested now and continued. ‘Anyway if you’re going to talk about her like she’s a weyrbrat still maybe you’d better ask Hexeth if Purth won’t come and get every flit around to do tricks for her.’ He joked with one eye on Idara, she was smiling just a little bit.

Tombath was so eager for a return to the proper order of things, he had been confused when Hexeth did the hiding, that he didn’t even complain that his presence was likely to attract more attention than not. He dropped down from his favoured sunbathing spot on the rim and landed in the bowl with a bit more grace than usual. The bronze slid into the space that had clearly been left for him.

[Yamamoto]

And'l smiled at her saying " Well see you have achived that goal and one day they will get to see. Trust me on that. When Thread comes. The council will come crawling back to us for help and we will. So you should not worry about it so much." And'l did not know if he liked being repremanied by Uu'ian. Though he did not mind. He could see how it would come off as though he was treating her like a child. He said to her " It is not that I am trying to insult you. I am trying to help. I am just not good at helping people feel better. That was why I asked Uu'ian to help me." He felt alittle silly explaining himself. Wondering if his idea had been a bad one. And'l sighed with a frown on his face saying " I'm sorry if it came across that way." Hexeth looked at the younger queen saying to her Don't worry. I think they will be able to. Though she does need to stop valueing the options of those whose opintion are not good so much. Don't worry though that will come in time. He soflty nuzzled the queen affectiontly. Though he would never chase her. The fact that she did not talk down to him made her his friend.

[Kisha-Ra]

Uu’ian poked And’l in the side gently, ‘Hey I was teasing you.’ He said. ‘You should be used to that by now. Although people really do think the bits about me, not that I blame them. I do have a mouth that runs off by itself.’ Uu’ian was confused, sometimes he could get away with the most outrageous teasing and other times And’l just didn’t seem to catch on at all.

Idara leaned forward and patted And’l’s hand in a comforting gesture. ‘Hey it’s alright, as long as you don’t try and put me down for a nap.’ Idara smiled, Tuinth was right really they were just trying to make her feel better, and it was working. ‘You were doing fine really, I am lucky to have Tuinth and I really like it here, so that’s two good things to balance up the bad things about spying.’ Sharing your troubles did seem to work, Idara reflected, now she was feeling almost optimistic about things. Then a small frown passed over her face. ‘If you wouldn’t mind telling me I’m very curious as to why everyone around here seems so convince thread will fall again. It doesn’t seem like alarmist behaviour, which is what the council said by the way.’ She wasn’t quite sure wy she was asking, apart from her own curiousity.

Tuinth shivered and rumbled a dragon laugh. That tickles.[/color] she stated with a note of amusement, ignoring the latest topic, it was obvious, to her at least.