Welcome to Gaia! ::

Anyone can come here. Just make sure the Weyrfolk and the Rebel folk don't meet or there is sure to be a fight.

The explosion that heralded Regalth and Kai's exit from between more explosive than it should have been. The Prism spiraled down to the ground, eyes still whirling with worry and alarm, while Kai sniffed and brushed the frozen tears from her cheeks. They had flown a little of the way there, giving Kai time to go from anger to tears, but she had finally told Gal to between the rest of the way.

With a loud sniff, she inhaled deeply through her nose and hoped her face wasn't too blotched as the Prism set down on the sand a little bit away from Kaereth. Kai leaned against her dragon's neck for a moment, soaking up the comfort Regalth provided, then slid from the dragon's back and began stripping the packs and harness from her so that the dragon could go swimming if she wanted while Kai and M'tri were off hunting for wild Clutches that they could bring back and distribute to the Weyr.

Kaimine....

I'll be all right, Regalth. She smiled up at the concerned rainbow eyes and rubbed the blue-purple neck. I'll be all right.

Regalth bent her head down and placed to Kai's side, letting her rider stroke her muzzle while Regalth tried to help her feel better after what was just the next in a long line of fights. This one, however, had been much worse than any of the others, and Regalth was worried that, as good a person as S'tesch was, Kai's weyrmate was going to eventually emotionally hurt her and there would be no going back from it.

Kai looked over and smiled at him in her usual fashion, unaware that her face was still a bit red from crying and her eyes were still red-rimmed. She was trying to pass herself off as the same happy person, trying to push away the unhappy memories for a more private time and not burden someone else with them; it was her one really bad habit. "I'm fine. If you'd like to help with the harness, it would go a lot faster and we could get down to the buisness of finding a firelizard Clutch."

Letting her gaze slide past M'tri to Kaereth, she smiled and called a greeting, "Greetings, Kaereth! You're looking very well."

"Sure. Have fun, Gal," Kai instructed, giving her dragon's muzzle one last rub before scooping up her packs and the harness and wandering over to where M'tri had set up fort to put them down. Crouching before one of the packs, Kai searched through it and finally gave a small, triumphant smile as she pulled out her own towel to spread out on the ground next to his, then picked up a full set of packs and settled them over her shoulder as she stood.

"For the eggs," she explained. "Should we find any. I keep a set designed specifically for transporting them, even though I'm none too fond of the practice of actively seeking out nests and stealing the eggs from their mother." Kai looked over at Regalth, her eyes distant as she recalled her Impression and where the dragon had had to come from. With a blink, she brought herself back to the present. "Still, it's always fun to go hunting and once they've Impressed, everyone is generally pleased. So, where do you want to start looking?"

The queenrider had indeed just been standing there, staring after him at the sudden swirl of activity. His rather chivalrous attitude had swept her away, although she supposed she should be used to it by now.

S'tesch used to charm you like that, a poisonous voice in her mind whispered. He used to split the load with you, at the very least, even if he didn't carry it all.

Kai blinked at the thought and grinned at M'tri, jogging to catch up. "I'm coming, I'm coming... If we're checking the rocks we should be careful. Just last moon(I dunno if they use the term "months" here) a Weyrling slipped and sliced his calf open. The scar won't ever let him forget that foolish mistake, I don't think."

Kai felt herself grinning back, despite the last part of his sentence, which gave her a strangely painful feeling in her chest.

Why should his not taking risks bother me? She wondered as they gradually made their way towards the towering black and gray rock formations, the ground near them littered with vicious smaller and sharper rocks.

Because, a small part of her whispered. Because you want him to take a risk on you, despite that you already have a weyrmate.

Kai shook it off without ever showing what was going on in her mind. "So, if we find a Clutch, how many should we take back? The whole nest or just a few?"

"You're right, for the most part. Wild greens don't, but some of those who have human companions can be good mothers. We-"

Her words were stopped by the appearance of a flit from between, and after the inital startlement, she smiled at Flamewing.

"Hello, pet. Here to help?"

Images with an overlapping feeling of inquiry greeted Kai's question and she explained softly, "We're searching for wild firelizard Clutches, like the one I got you from. Want to help?"

Flamewing whistled and then popped out, leaving Kai grinning at the space so recently occupied by the scarlet-gold.

"She says," Kai related to M'tri and as made her way in his direction, "For the most part, that the Clutchmother would sense her nearby and attack us at the slightest hint of existance. We're safer without her help."

Although there were rocks around, she still jogged over to M'tri without so much as a minor loss of balance; a seemingly near-inhuman feat. Her blue eyes didn't glance down or look at him for a long moment once she had caught up- on the way over she had, of course, checked her steps- but looked out over the shoreline and the small hills and cliffs marking it.

"Hmmmm. Mmmmaaayyybe over there?" Kai pointed towards the nearer cliffside. "A large enough nook could hold a relatively large Clutch."


(*Thinks of how F'nor Impressed that first little newly-Hatched gold and all the flit Impressing started afterwards, and smiles affectionately* I still hate it when eggs in the books are just stolen from the wild and forced into Impression, but it does offer some great doors for rp. ^_^ Me wantses a green flit for meself, precious!)

(In case anyone wonders, Kai can do that because she grew up in a sea-side hold, where she used to play for hours on boats and jagged rocks just like that. In fact, she has a scar on the back of one thigh and one on her back from when she fell once.

... Yes, I did just make that up. Lol)

Kai actually had to job slightly to keep pace with him, and was then glad that she'd been relieved of the packs. They would have slowed her down further, even without the pockets being filled with sand.

She stopped herself before she spoke, realizing that they should be as quiet as possible if they wanted to get anywhere near a Clutch.

Let's hope that any we do find can herald enough eggs to at least pass on to some friends. I refuse to give any to angry Lord Holders who just want more than they deserve. Her jaw set and her eyes were angry and distant; if there was one thing Kai was, it was stubborn. And even if he doesn't agree, I will tell M'tri so.

With the cliff looming closer, Kai forced her attention back to her current task; she'd be able to worry about where the eggs would go after they found some- if they found some.

Don't count your dragonets before they're hatched, after all, she thought to herself.

Seeing what appeared to be a small recess in the cliff, Kai nudged M'tri and motioned with the same hand to it. With another series of handgestures, she mimed him lifting her up enough to see into it.