always in a dream [maika]

[ASTROLOGICAL!!]

Ceria flutters around, her green wings beating. It feels good to be out in the weyrbowl, during midday when most of the dragons are sunning on the rocks. Even though Aleiph is nervous around riders, she can't help but admire the dragons from afar. They come in so many colors and shapes and sizes that she can't even believe that they're real.

Ceria lands on Aleiph's shoulder and she scratches the flitter's headknobs. "I hope the dragon I get is as easy-going as you, little one." The flitter trills and Aleiph kisses her head, then continues hanging up laundry to dry.

They still don't give her chores that are demanding enough.

[summerrain]

Maika sighed and put away the broom. Sweeping up the halls after meals was always one of the more tiring of her chores. She looked over at the full-grown Brown flit on her shoulder, then to the Bronze Hatchling on the other. She smiled at him, then made her way outside. Maika looked around, then spied a girl with a Green flit. She decided to walk over to the other girl, but was proceeded by Taro, who darted off His' shoulder to make friends with the Green. Maika laughed and followed the Brown, holding Aki, the Hatchling Bronze, in her arms. He was larger than the average Bronze flit, and would easily be larger than a Gold upon maturity.

Taro was flying in circles around the Green, trying to get her to play with him. He darted away, then flew back toward her. Maika laughed again. "Sorry about him," she said, Aki in her arms. "He's only a Turn old. This one just Hatched a few days ago." She looked down at Aki, a smile on her face. "I'm Maika. I've only been here a few sevendays. I'm from Garnet Hold, and my older brother is Ik'tamal, rider of Purple Azurath." She blinked, then sighed. "Sorry. I'm rambling a bit. Anyway, It's nice to meet you." Her white-tipped red tail swished behind her, and her red hair was tied back with a white ribbon.

[ASTROLOGICAL!!]

Ceria squawks and gives the Brown a look of confusion. Aleiph has trained her to keep close and not make too much noise, though Ceria does enjoy fluttering around her and bothering her if Ceria doesn't like what Aleiph is doing. Aleiph looks at Ceria and nods, allowing Ceria to join Taro in the sky, flitting about after him in a game of chase.

The girl that walks up is excitable and talkative. Aleiph takes a moment to listen, assuming she's young or chatty or both. She then brushes a lock of unkempt black hair out of her face. She'd long-since learned to not stare at the Tailed. She finds them a bit unusual, given her relations with animals, but tries not to let it show.

"Garnet Hold? I'm from there." She continues pinning up the laundry, giving a slightly superficial grin. "My father's Alenn, one of the master Beastcrafters. He breeds and trains hounds. I'm Aleiph. Nice to meet you." She pauses. "Do you know anything about the state of the Hold?"

[summerrain]

Maika watched as Taro went off to play with Ceria, but kept in mental contact. Maika turned back to the girl, then smiled again. "I know who Alenn is," she said happily. "Father and Alenn are good friends. My father is Ikataro, one of the master fishers of the Hold." She returned Aki to her shoulder when the Hatchling flit chirped indignantly. She giggled at the flit, then turned to Aleiph. "The Hold's doing rather well," she said after a moment. "Mother gave me this pendant she requested from the merchants." It was shaped like a heart, on a metal chain that was polished so it shone. "The merchants said it was from the Jewelrycrafters in one of the Holds to the east." She suddenly had a thought.

"Do... Do you remember Ik'tamal?" she asked softly, hesitantly. "I heard he's been away to a Hold... Maybe until the Hatching..." She sighed softly. "He probably wouldn't want me to be here, either..."

[ASTROLOGICAL!!]

"Ikataro? I think I knew him, but I didn't deal with the customers." Aleiph is excellent at handling beasts. She's not friendly to just anyone, though, and prefers not to be around men, and has a tendency to act up. "Isn't Ik'tamal around my sister's age, though?" Aleiph had never talked to him much, but he probably knew Salena pretty well. Salena always made the boys of the Hold her business.

Aleiph turns to look at the pendant. "Oh, it is pretty," she says. "I don't really like jewelry, personally. L'ei took me to visit our family a while back, though, and apparently Salena's got suitors. I don't know if she's getting handfasted by now, though. She should. She's always been interested in that."

Salena's always been her mother's perfect daughter. Aleiph would have never survived if it weren't for her father.

[summerrain]

"Ik'tamal would be about eighteen Turns old now," Maika said after a moment. "I've been told he's out for a few sevendays on Weyr business. Probably escorting someone important." She shrugged, not really sure what her brother could be doing. But he wasn't in the Weyr, that was all Maika really knew.

"From what I last heard, Salena's nearly chosen a suitor," Maika told Aleiph. "But I don't think Ik'tamal ever paid that much attention to her... He was only fourteen Turns old when he was Searched, and Impressed at fifteen." She was going to add something about her own age, but thought better about it. She wasn't supposed to be here, after all. Then again, it wouldn't be such a big deal if she didn't Impress... She could stay here a Turn, then Impress when she was fourteen.

"I honestly couldn't care about getting handfasted, or dealing with suitors," Maika said after a moment. "I was training under my father to become a fisher. Who wants to be handfasted to a girl fisher? If I had gone on to become a journeyman, or even a master, I'd be spending a lot of time out at sea, which would leave him to take care of any children... It just wouldn't work." She looked up at the two flits playing around above them, smiling slightly. "But I'm fine with that. I don't really want to be held down by being handfasted to someone. Not yet, at least. I want to Impress to a dragon, someday."