Post by Mik on Jun 1, 2012 13:13:51 GMT -5
((Joint Post))
She knew that evening would be approaching soon in the northern mountains of Pern. After all, she'd lived there most of her life. Well, if she had lived anywhere else, she didn't know of it. She was Kalerai, a twelve turn old girl who'd been about to apprentice into the Harper Hall just a sevenday before when tragedy had struck her home. Kalerai was what their hold's harper called a prodigy. She was extremely gifted when it came to singing, even more so when it came to drawing. But whatever a prodigy was (she still didn't quite understand the word), it wasn't enough to stop a devastating explosion from rocking her hold's mine. Her parents had been killed a sevenday before, there in the mine that she stood staring at early that evening. She'd been the only child there, the only one not in the mine. Her parents had kept her with them for whatever reason. Perhaps because they hadn't wanted the Harper to take her away. So everyone she had known there had been in the mine, everyone but her. She knew better than to hope they were alive, under all that rubble. She also knew that at least there was some food left, which is why she'd stuck put, hoping the Harper would come back soon. But he still hadn't shown. With a sigh she couldn't hear, Kalerai tried humming a ballad to herself, hoping that maybe the tune would register in her ears. But it didn't. She turned back to the small, rickety cottage that she called home, and moved to head inside, not knowing that something flew above.
Kikikaa had gone out solo that day. She could handle herself if she ran into unfriendly company, but most of all, she just wanted to be alone. It had taken a fair length of time to talk her brothers into letting her go, but she had managed with a little bit of pretty pleases and Peronith would protect her. Peronith was a genuinely friendly green, but if there was any threat toward her rider, one would never see the end of it. Peronith banked softly as her rider’s bronze and green firelizards trailed in her wake. [[Below us. There is one,]] Peronith told her rider as she spiraled into landing position. Once on the ground, the big green settled to allow her rider to dismount. “Hello?” Kikikaa called out into the quiet area. Just where was this person that Peronith had just sensed? Trouble and Treasure settled on Peronith’s saddle curiously.
Kikikaa would find no life in the area around her, and Kalerai didn't hear the voice that called out. The door had closed behind her just a moment or so after the "hello". Inside, she grabbed a small loaf of bread, not quite bad yet, but stale, and sat on the floor, chewing on it slowly. In all honesty, she didn't realize quite how she looked. She wasn't quite aware of the way she looked, with the small patches of dried blood at either ear, the dirt crusting her face. It was a small round face, obvious that she was young. Wide slate grey eyes sat on her face, a normal nose in between. Her normal smile was absent, and her shoulder length light brown hair as dusty as the rest of her. The only thing clean, perhaps, was her simple blouse and skirt, heavy wool against the winter's chill.
Trouble’s curious nature got the better of him and he chirped his usual tone to say he was about to cause some mischief, making a bee-line toward the cottage, Treasure chirping after him in scolding. Kikikaa sighed and watched her two firelizards. “Are you sure, Peronith?” the greenrider asked of her dragon, slightly uncertain about this Search. Well, more so worried about the silence she was facing. She never knew her dragon to be wrong since their Impression. Trouble chirped about the door to the cottage, knowing that someone or something had just gone in there. [[There is someone in there, Mine,]] Peronith confirmed, moving to follow her rider as close as she could. Yes, the quiet was a little unnerving with the past that they had known, but this greenrider was willing to find her dragon’s Search. “Hello?” Kikikaa called again as she followed her firelizards to the door and proceeding to knock on it.
Kalerai finished up the small roll she had in hand before standing and moving to the the food cabinent again. A stale roll just wasn't enough to satisfy her. She would have to leave there soon, soley because it could be sevendays before the Harper appeared again, and she was nearly out of decent food. Realizing that, she sighed, and started rummaging around the small cot for something to carry her few belongs in. She didn't even hear the knock.
Trouble chirped merrily as he tapped on the door himself. Like a feline with a cornered crawlie, the little bronze was happily trying to wriggle his way in to get at his target. Kikikaa moved a hand to her beltknife just in case she would actually need it, then tried opening the door, finding it to open easily. “Hello?” she called again, Trouble darting in happily with chirps and trills, Treasure a bit more cautious.
Kalerai felt a slight breeze when the door opened and frowned, but when she turned around and saw another person, a smile lit up on her face. Finally she wasn't alone!! "Oh hi!!" she said, hand on the pack that she was packing up. But the smile disappeared. She hadn't heard herself speak. Was something wrong? Now that she thought about it, it hadn't just been her hums she hadn't been hearing lately. Everything had been quiet in general. Too quiet. She knew that door squeeked, and she hadn't heard it open. She'd felt it. The twelve-turn-old went quite quickly from being obviously happy to obviously upset. No point in getting completely torn up yet, at least not until this rather pretty lady in front of her spoke up.
Kikikaa smiled when she saw the girl, but her smile quickly faded to concern when she took in the girl’s state and her happy smile that quickly faded. “Are you okay, sweety?” she asked, her hand moving away from her knife as she stepped forward a little more, but made sure to leave her personal space for comfort’s sake. Trouble scurried over to the girl, finding no fear in her at all, Treasure stopping between the honey-hued bronze and her Pet as if confused on what she needed to do. Peronith’s lithe head appeared in the open doorway to watch the goings on. [[That one, Mine.]]
Kalerae saw her lips move, but again no sound game. It was shocking how it'd been nearly a week since the explosion, and she was just now realizing what it had done to her. She couldn't read lips, so she had no idea what the rider asked, but she looked away all the same, kneeling down and extending a hand out to the little bronze in front of her. Whers were something she was used to, the last mine they lived at having had one, but she couldn't remember having actually ever seen flits. Then, in perhaps what could be calmer than what one would expect, she said in the same clear voice as before, "I can't hear you. I know you spoke...I saw you speak. But I can't hear it...Not anymore. Not since the mine blew..."
As Kikikaa watched the girl interact with Trouble who crooned in pleasure as he nuzzled the outstretched hand, she heard the answers to her confusion unfold. Looking around, she hoped to find something to write with, finally settling on some old coal near the fireplace and kneeling on the floor next to her bronze. Leaning so that she could see the girl’s face, she held the coal into view to ask her next question as she made a motion, “Can you write?” [[Mine? What’s taking so long?]] Peronith pried, Kikikaa turning to look at her green and saying, “Just a beat Peronith. She can’t hear me.”
The girl giggled as the flit nuzzled up against her hand, and she scratched at his head gently, looking up when she saw the coal. "Oh, you're a rider!" she exclaimed, seeing the dragon's head in her doorway now. And then she stopped and blinked again. Oh, she'd gotten the question just fine. "I can read and write and do my figures just fine, and then some, Ma'am, but you don't want to stick around here. If anyone saw you, it'd be trouble," she said real fast. She knew most miners disliked the weyrs. And on the off-hand chance one happened to be headed their way, she didn't want to risk this rider being discovered.
Kikikaa smiled as Trouble worked his joyous magic of cheer on the girl. The greenrider worried slightly at the news, but she was here because Peronith wanted her to Stand. She quickly scratched ‘SEARCH’ on the floorboards and pointed at the green head in the doorway. “Peronith wants you to Stand. That’s why I risked coming here,” she said, hoping that her message was getting across. Treasure decided that she could do her own nosing about and headed back toward the door, hopping into flight to go have a look outside at her Pet’s worried thoughts.
"Search?" she voiced outloud, and then realized that Kikikaa meant her. She hadn't even thought about that possibility. "Well, I'm not sure about standing, but I sure would like to get out of here," she replied finally. "Everyone got killed when the mine exploded a seven-day ago. I stayed, hoping the Harper would be back, but he's still gone. I was about to leave myself though, when you showed up," she explained. This not being able to hear the otherside of the conversation was frusterating, she realized. But she was more worried about whether or not she'd even be able to be a harper again, or rather ever at all. She scratched the bronze's head a few more times, before standing back up. "Couldya at least take me with you? I don't think the riders want people who can't hear, but I have anywhere else to go now...Not now that my parents aren't alive, and well...I can't hear." She couldn't go to the craft of her choice now. That much sunk in, and she seemed more sad than before.
Kikikaa smiled as the girl stood up. She would figure out names later, but the girl had answered her unspoken question for her. She nodded in answer to her and motioned toward the door. “Peronith Searched you. We can go as soon as you’re ready.” Kneeling down briefly, she scratched a few more words on the floorboards: ‘NEED HELP PACKING?’ Trouble flitted up to the cot and nosed about on it since the attention had left from his merriness. [[Let’s go already,]] Peronith spoke both at her rider and at the girl. She did not like the quietness of the area. [[It’s too quiet here,]] she added to Hers alone.
Kalerae read the message real fast. "Nope, I was almost done," she replied. She was finishing putting a few change of clothes in her back when the green spoke, causing her to squeek. "What was that?" she asked, eyes wide. After her clothes, all she had left was her 'harper' stuff, and she wasn't about to leave that behind, even if she wouldn't ever be one now.
Kikikaa nodded before scraping her boot over the sooty inscriptions to somewhat erase them. No need to tell the Holds that a dragonrider had been here. Things were still very touchy with the Holdfolk. At the girl’s question, she looked at her to try to figure it out. The look on the girl’s face told the young greenrider that Peronith had bespoken directly to her. That meant that her hearing may return eventually or at least a dragon could communicate with her. She pointed at her green in the doorway. “Peronith spoke to you. Introduce us, Love,” she said, turning to her dragon at the last bit. Peronith crooned in acknowledgement and carried out the task. [] the dragon bespoke both again as Kikikaa offered to carry something for the girl.
"Oh..." she said, almost in a drawn out sort of way, understanding entirely now. It'd been her understanding only dragon riders could hear dragonkind, but she was glad for the green's voice. "I'm Kalerai. And thank you, but I'm fine. I just need to go grab a couple of more things real fast," she said, pointing to another room in the cot before disappearing behind the door to pack up her drawing stuff. These were, in her opinion, her most valuable possessions. But the smile that had been there had returned again. To be going somewhere new, with a dragon rider (she personally secretly adored the dragonkin), and to at least be hearing a kind of voice? It certainly made her day.
Kikikaa shook her head as the girl left the room, retreating outside to ready Peronith’s harness for some items for them to take with them. Kalerai was a very pretty name in her opinion. Peronith backed away from the cottage enough for her wingspan and lay on the ground while her rider readied her harness for luggage and the extra rider. Trouble chirped as he bounced from strap to strap in an attempt at helping his Pet to get ready, though he had learned over the turns not to loosen straps because they could result in bad things happening. Treasure had drifted off a short distance, her location only known by random avians fluttering from trees here and there from her playing with them. Peronith’s lithe head snapped up to attention at a sound and a flock of avians flew from the treeline along with Treasure zipping full speed toward them in a panic.
Those last few things that she had, she easily put into her bag before she wrapped both arms around it and trotted her way outside, slightly watching from behind as Kikikaa got her dragon ready for flight. Just a small part of her was worried about leaving the only real place she ever knew, but she knew that she couldn't very well stay there, so she would brace herself to go. Whereever it was she was going...Actually, she wasn't sure where that was. When Peronith's head shot up, the avians fluttered away, and Treasure came back towards them full speed, her eyes went wide. "I think someone saw you. . . " she mumbled quietly, hoping that she was wrong. She was certain there was nothing in the area to startle everything like that.
Kikikaa looked up as her green fire lizard returned, her caution turned full tilt as Trouble joined the anxiousness and Kalerai’s words further echoed her worries. “Peronith, keep watch. We need to hurry, Love,” she said as she turned back to the girl and motioned for her things. “Let’s hope we’re lucky, Kalerai,” she said as she shooed Treasure away from her head.
The girl quickly scurried over to who she considered her new friend, handing her the bag that she held close to her body. "Miner don't like riders, cause of all the firestone mining of old," she mumbled quietly, repeating the phrase word for word as she had heard it growing up. "And Kikikaa...I think there's only miners in the area. . ." she added. She was nervous now. What would spook a dragon and two flits? She certainly couldn't think of anything.
Kikikaa nodded to Kalerai’s information as she took the bag and made certain that it was secured to her green’s harness. Once she was finished, she pulled down a strap for them to mount easier, but her movement was hampered by Trouble and Treasure suddenly squawking and scurrying out of the way of something whistling. [[Mine!!]] Peronith warned too late, afraid to move lest she make her rider fall to the ground. Kikikaa looked up at her dragon’s mental shout to find pain searing through her shoulder, falling against her dragon before stumbling to the ground. “Kalerai, get down!” she cried out in warning.
Kale looked around a bit, quickly, once she handed her bag over, trying to think of anything at all that could possibly be spooking the dragon and flits. She honestly couldn't think of anything though, and when Trouble and Treasure dashed out of the way passed where she was looking, she turned only to see Kikikaa fall to the ground by her dragon. Eyes wide, the girl froze, as voices from nearby shouted "Don't let 'em take her!!" Not that Kale could hear them. It took her a few moments but she unfroze and quickly went to Kikikaa's side. "Are you okay?!" she asked, somewhat panicked and forgetting she wouldn't hear the answer anyway. Nevermind that there was obviously an arrow sticking out of her shoulder. Just as she saw that, she turned and saw the shooter standing nearby, another arrow ready to fly. "NO!" she shouted, jumping up in the way.
Kikikaa heard the shouts of the men, or at least a man, that had ambushed them. There was more than one by the words she had just heard. Searching just did not get any easier. Reaching over to Kalerai with bloody fingers already, she pulled her close with her left hand, her right immobilized by the arrow’s placement. [[Peronith…cover us,]] she thought to her life mate, gritting her teeth against the burning in her shoulder. Turning emerald eyes to the girl, she looked to see if the arrow had been loosed. “Kalerai?” she asked, hoping for an answer.
The one shooting had hestitated when Kalerai jumped in front of the rider, wondering what on earth the girl could be doing. That was, he hestitated until Kikikaa reached for her and pulled her down. Then he did let it go, hoping to get the rider, not the girl. It clipped her as she fell before burying itself in the ground right by them. She tried to get up again, saying, "We gotta go. . ." And the sooner the better.
“Wait,” Kikikaa began, trying to keep the young girl down beside her. Peronith’s wing draped between them and their attackers and only then did she let Kalerai go. She pushed the girl upward toward the harness. “Climb!” she told her, forgetting that she could not hear her voice, holding on to her dragon’s hide for some hope of balance. “Kalerai’s been Searched!” she shouted at those around them. Her vision was somewhat hazed as she tried to see how many were nearest the. {{Trouble, Treasure, fly away!!}} Kikikaa thought to her firelizards as she found her feet. This was going to be one flight she was going to hate. Peronith hissed at the men around her, her tail lashing back and forth and her head snaking toward one or another with sharp teeth bared in warning.
She only briefly kept trying to kep up, knowing that there was a reason why Kikikaa didn't want her to get up. When the green wing drapped over them and she was pushed towards the harness, she blinked. "Oh..." Kale mumbled then. It'd taken her a minute, but she figured out that Kikikaa just wanted her to stay down long enough for the green to protect them and the girl to get up on the dragon. So she climbed, not even knowing that she'd been told to climb. And the men kept yelling. No child from their part of Pern was going to be Searched, not if they had a say in it.
Trouble and Treasure darted skyward at their Pet’s plea, soon becoming specs of color high above the area, fluttering wildly as they obeyed their Pet. Kikikaa knew that they would be exposed once they reached Peronith’s ridges, but she had to at least secure Kalerai enough to get them airborne. “She chose to come with us!” she shouted back at the men, risking exposure to her back as she scrambled closely behind the girl. Once at the saddle, she patted the saddle where she needed Kalerai to sit. “Sit here! We’ll be in the air soon!” she told her, straddling her dragon’s saddle backwards to try to work straps and clips one-handed and certainly not her dominant hand.
Once up on the dragon, she got a better look at the men causing the problems. Not people that she knew. Why did they honestly care then what happened, she didn't know, but she was paying careful attention to Kikikaa now. It'd be easier if she could hear what she was being told, but at least she was able to figure it out real easy with the motions that the rider made. She sat there, glaring at the men, but watching what Kikikaa was doing. "Show me which one where," she said, when she saw the rider struggling. They'd both been hurt, but the rider was the one who'd actually gotten an arrow stuck in her.
Kikikaa glanced about her as Peronith rose to her feet to further hamper the men from getting any closer to her and Hers. Used to dragon motion, the dark haired rider sat her backwards saddle easily, blood trailing down her arm in a few small streaks beneath her flight jacket only to be seen on her hand. “This one around your waist like this,” the greenrider said as she reached for a thicker strap that looked like a belt, then pointed to her own belt just beneath the hem of her jacket. {{How’s the company, Peronith?}} she thought to her green as she hoped she was conveying the right instructions to the girl.
It was easy to tell what she needed dto do with that one and she wrapped it around her waist just as you would a belt, securing it in place before waiting for more instructions. She got distracted long enough to see the men getting closer to the pair of them. "Umm...." she said, worried. Couldn't they just fly now?!
They were almost ready for flight. As soon as there were two clips on Kalerai’s belt. Peronith flared her wings and spun at the nearest man, temporarily causing Kikikaa to lose her perch, but she wrapped her good arm into a strap to save herself. “Clip the sides to the saddle!” she told her rider, righting herself in the process. [[Clip your belt to the saddle!]] Peronith grumbled quickly to Hers and Kalerai. The straps were sort of self-explained, but the needed words were the answers. Kikikaa fumbled with a clip on hers. If she had one clipped, Peronith could take off with the pair of them at least attached.
Again, it didn't take too much explination, and once the green's voice popped in her mind again, she knew she had it. So she quickly clipped herself to the saddle with what she could find, and then twisted to try and help Kikikaa with her. Not that a twelve-turn-old knew much about riding compared to an actual rider, but that didn't stop her from trying to at least get them in the sky faster.
With Kalerai’s help, Kikikaa was secured to one side of her saddle and it was then that she cleared her dragon for take off. [[Go, Peronith! We’re attached.]] she thought to her green before shouting at the men with what energy adrenaline gave her at the moment. “Peronith of Izuko has Searched Kalerai. She belongs with the Weyr now!” Peronith hunkered on her front end, rocking back to her hind while whipping her tail at a few men, tripping at least two of them. A mere moment later, she launched roughly into the air, long wings flapping quickly for altitude from her difficult take-off. In the green’s movements, Kikikaa was spun around and slipped to the side of her dragon, but the strap that she was clipped to held her safely against the saddle. She would right herself once they were out of reach of the arrows and her green could hover.
Moments later, they were high enough that the green could hover for her rider to struggle into place on the saddle, breaking the arrow off on a piece of harness leather that it had gotten snagged in. That was a pain the former Runner was never going to forget. Once she was finally seated and clipped on the other side, she turned to look at her passenger. “Are you okay?” she asked, bronze and green fire lizard flitting close by since they were safe now.
Kalerai yelped when they took off into the sky, not necessarily because she hurt, but rather because the moment startled her, even though she'd been waiting for it to come for so long. She knew Kikikaa had yelled at the men, but she didn't know what and hoped that, whatever it was, it wasn't something would lead to regret later on down the road. She was glad when they finally settled into the sky and the flits returned to them and she looked down at the men, who were obviously angry that the pair had gotten away. And when they did settle, she sighed before looking at Kikikaa. "You okay?" she asked at the same time.
Kikikaa smiled when Kalerai echoed her question. Obviously she was not alright, but she was alert enough to figure out how they were going to make it to the Weyr. She remembered hearing of the dangers of Betweening with open wounds, but she was too far away for a straight flight. Her only hope was to send Treasure with a message back to the Weyr. Her brothers were never going to let her go out alone again. She nodded, moving her left hand to the shaft of the arrow in her right shoulder, tucking her right forearm against her side and stomach. She did not know if it had gone clean through, but it was throbbing and the pain seemed to be spreading down her arm and up into her neck. “I’ll be okay,” she answered, giving her dragon the heading for home. Thinking hard to her fire lizards, she had to calm them to make Treasure’s errand go smoothly. If not, the poor green would be delivering a jumbled message. “I’m sorry for the rough take off,” she apologized, though her words would probably be lost in silence.
Kalerai indeed didn't catch the apology. She was more focused on the rider's bleeding. At least they were moving though. But she did catch the "I'll be ok" simply because Kikikaa hadn't seemed to give a negative answer. "Can't we just between to your weyr?" she asked quietly, forgetting she wouldn't even be able to comprehend the answer probably. The difficulties of being deaf were ones that she would have to start remembering soon, otherwise conversations would get to be very frusteration for her quite quickly.
Kikikaa shook her head in answer. “One rule of Between: never Between with an open wound,” she replied back, forgetting that her passenger could not hear as her adrenaline was starting to wane. Treasure soon winked out of sight, but Trouble remained as Peronith settled into a smooth flight toward their home. Kikikaa would be willing to risk Between if she knew that someone was waiting to help her should anything go wrong while she was in the cold nothingness.
Kalerai frowned some and sighed, as she didn't get more beyond the fact that they couldn't between to wherever it was they were going. She saw the little flit disappear between and wondered where she had disappeared to. Since there wasn't much of anything that she could do, she held her arm out for the little bronze to come and get affectious again. He'd been sweet and she liked him. The miner girl didn't even know that she had started to hum one of the learning ballads, the one about dragons, the duty song. It was one of her favorites.
Peronith crooned as she recognized the humming as something her rider had a tendency to sing. [[Mine, are you okay?]] the lithe green asked of her rider, feeling the drowsiness starting to take hold after the rush of adrenaline had left the dark haired woman. {{I’m okay, Peronith. Just keep flying until we hear back from Treasure.}} Kikikaa thought back to her dragon. Trouble finally settled enough to realize that the miner girl was asking for his attention, so he flew in close enough to make a careful landing on a ridge just in front of the girl, looking up at her to acknowledge her existence with whirling blue-green eyes.
The girl kept humming until she finished that song, and then moved onto the next, never quite realizing that she was actually making any sound with her humming. She smiled as the flit landed in front of her, giving him a scratch. She wished that she could hear, because she was desperately wanting to have a conversation with her rescuer. It'd been a long few days and she was desperate for some company. But it wasn't really possible to talk to someone when you couldn't hear their responses, so she kept quiet and humming softly.
Kikikaa listened to the humming for a while, wishing that she could Between home safely. She was about to start giving into the pain when Treasure blinked back to her with a message from the Healers. It was safe for them to Between home. “We’re gonna Between home. Hold your breath and count to three,” she managed to tell her passenger. Peronith’s sanity was returning and so she conveyed the message to the girl, having not heard the miner girl’s response to it after a moment. [[Hold your breath and count to three. We Between,]] as soon as the green was done with her message, they went Between a few moments later.
The cold dark nothingness of Between was quickly replaced by a slightly warmer air above Izuko Island where Peronith immediately started her descent toward the Healer’s quarters. Kalerai would be confined there or transported to the Welcome Island once things were taken care of. The blood that centered around Kikikaa’s wound had frozen in its place during their brief trip Between and she no longer felt much in her shoulder as she worked on getting unclipped to get herself and Kalerai down. Showing the Healer that had come to them a Search token, she turned to give it to Kalerai when she had made it to the ground and motioned for her to follow them inside.
Kalerai nodded when the green gave her the message. She couldn't remember if there was a song about between or not, and honestly considering how short it was, she doubted that there was. Once they had landed and their harnesses undone, she slid down the green and looked up at Kikikaa. The woman didn't seem to be doing well, if you were to ask her. But she took the token from her, looking at it curiously, and then blinking.
Oh...she realized that she was supposed to follow then healer then and did so. The miner girl wasn't entirely certain that she wanted to leave the rider, considering that the rider knew more about her than this person did, but she wasn't about to disobey and cause a commotion. No, rather to let them take care of the green-rider first.
A short time later, Kikikaa’s shoulder was treated for her injury and a thick, gooey black salve was slathered all around the hole that the arrow had left. Eodira had said that it would draw out infection if any were to occur. It was then that the greenrider, while sipping on warm tea, had enough sense in her head to ask for some slate and some charcoal so that she could communicate with her Searchee better. Drawing the lettering on the slate, she asked Kalerai if she was hurt anywhere during their scuffle. After she received an answer, she motioned toward the Healer present to check her over, Eodira having gone off to check a troublesome birth’s process to one of the Lower Cavern’s workers.
Kalerai had waited paitently and quietly while the green rider was treated. It wasn't until she was asked if she'd gotten hurt too that she remembered all the arrows that had been shot their way. "Just a small scratch," she said, showing where one of the arrows had grazed her arm. She let the healer that remained treat it.
Kikikaa smiled as the Healer got to work, writing down a few more things after wiping the slate clean of charcoal with a soft cloth. ‘YOU WILL BE A CANDIDATE NOW. LORINA WILL TEACH YOU HOW TO BECOME A RIDER.’ After she showed that message to her deaf friend, she wiped it clean again and wrote down some more words. ‘SINCE YOU CAN HEAR PERONITH, YOU’RE STILL ABLE TO RIDE IF YOU CHOOSE TO STAND WHEN THE EGGS HATCH.’ The former beat herder smiled at the miner girl and awaited her answers.
She knew that evening would be approaching soon in the northern mountains of Pern. After all, she'd lived there most of her life. Well, if she had lived anywhere else, she didn't know of it. She was Kalerai, a twelve turn old girl who'd been about to apprentice into the Harper Hall just a sevenday before when tragedy had struck her home. Kalerai was what their hold's harper called a prodigy. She was extremely gifted when it came to singing, even more so when it came to drawing. But whatever a prodigy was (she still didn't quite understand the word), it wasn't enough to stop a devastating explosion from rocking her hold's mine. Her parents had been killed a sevenday before, there in the mine that she stood staring at early that evening. She'd been the only child there, the only one not in the mine. Her parents had kept her with them for whatever reason. Perhaps because they hadn't wanted the Harper to take her away. So everyone she had known there had been in the mine, everyone but her. She knew better than to hope they were alive, under all that rubble. She also knew that at least there was some food left, which is why she'd stuck put, hoping the Harper would come back soon. But he still hadn't shown. With a sigh she couldn't hear, Kalerai tried humming a ballad to herself, hoping that maybe the tune would register in her ears. But it didn't. She turned back to the small, rickety cottage that she called home, and moved to head inside, not knowing that something flew above.
Kikikaa had gone out solo that day. She could handle herself if she ran into unfriendly company, but most of all, she just wanted to be alone. It had taken a fair length of time to talk her brothers into letting her go, but she had managed with a little bit of pretty pleases and Peronith would protect her. Peronith was a genuinely friendly green, but if there was any threat toward her rider, one would never see the end of it. Peronith banked softly as her rider’s bronze and green firelizards trailed in her wake. [[Below us. There is one,]] Peronith told her rider as she spiraled into landing position. Once on the ground, the big green settled to allow her rider to dismount. “Hello?” Kikikaa called out into the quiet area. Just where was this person that Peronith had just sensed? Trouble and Treasure settled on Peronith’s saddle curiously.
Kikikaa would find no life in the area around her, and Kalerai didn't hear the voice that called out. The door had closed behind her just a moment or so after the "hello". Inside, she grabbed a small loaf of bread, not quite bad yet, but stale, and sat on the floor, chewing on it slowly. In all honesty, she didn't realize quite how she looked. She wasn't quite aware of the way she looked, with the small patches of dried blood at either ear, the dirt crusting her face. It was a small round face, obvious that she was young. Wide slate grey eyes sat on her face, a normal nose in between. Her normal smile was absent, and her shoulder length light brown hair as dusty as the rest of her. The only thing clean, perhaps, was her simple blouse and skirt, heavy wool against the winter's chill.
Trouble’s curious nature got the better of him and he chirped his usual tone to say he was about to cause some mischief, making a bee-line toward the cottage, Treasure chirping after him in scolding. Kikikaa sighed and watched her two firelizards. “Are you sure, Peronith?” the greenrider asked of her dragon, slightly uncertain about this Search. Well, more so worried about the silence she was facing. She never knew her dragon to be wrong since their Impression. Trouble chirped about the door to the cottage, knowing that someone or something had just gone in there. [[There is someone in there, Mine,]] Peronith confirmed, moving to follow her rider as close as she could. Yes, the quiet was a little unnerving with the past that they had known, but this greenrider was willing to find her dragon’s Search. “Hello?” Kikikaa called again as she followed her firelizards to the door and proceeding to knock on it.
Kalerai finished up the small roll she had in hand before standing and moving to the the food cabinent again. A stale roll just wasn't enough to satisfy her. She would have to leave there soon, soley because it could be sevendays before the Harper appeared again, and she was nearly out of decent food. Realizing that, she sighed, and started rummaging around the small cot for something to carry her few belongs in. She didn't even hear the knock.
Trouble chirped merrily as he tapped on the door himself. Like a feline with a cornered crawlie, the little bronze was happily trying to wriggle his way in to get at his target. Kikikaa moved a hand to her beltknife just in case she would actually need it, then tried opening the door, finding it to open easily. “Hello?” she called again, Trouble darting in happily with chirps and trills, Treasure a bit more cautious.
Kalerai felt a slight breeze when the door opened and frowned, but when she turned around and saw another person, a smile lit up on her face. Finally she wasn't alone!! "Oh hi!!" she said, hand on the pack that she was packing up. But the smile disappeared. She hadn't heard herself speak. Was something wrong? Now that she thought about it, it hadn't just been her hums she hadn't been hearing lately. Everything had been quiet in general. Too quiet. She knew that door squeeked, and she hadn't heard it open. She'd felt it. The twelve-turn-old went quite quickly from being obviously happy to obviously upset. No point in getting completely torn up yet, at least not until this rather pretty lady in front of her spoke up.
Kikikaa smiled when she saw the girl, but her smile quickly faded to concern when she took in the girl’s state and her happy smile that quickly faded. “Are you okay, sweety?” she asked, her hand moving away from her knife as she stepped forward a little more, but made sure to leave her personal space for comfort’s sake. Trouble scurried over to the girl, finding no fear in her at all, Treasure stopping between the honey-hued bronze and her Pet as if confused on what she needed to do. Peronith’s lithe head appeared in the open doorway to watch the goings on. [[That one, Mine.]]
Kalerae saw her lips move, but again no sound game. It was shocking how it'd been nearly a week since the explosion, and she was just now realizing what it had done to her. She couldn't read lips, so she had no idea what the rider asked, but she looked away all the same, kneeling down and extending a hand out to the little bronze in front of her. Whers were something she was used to, the last mine they lived at having had one, but she couldn't remember having actually ever seen flits. Then, in perhaps what could be calmer than what one would expect, she said in the same clear voice as before, "I can't hear you. I know you spoke...I saw you speak. But I can't hear it...Not anymore. Not since the mine blew..."
As Kikikaa watched the girl interact with Trouble who crooned in pleasure as he nuzzled the outstretched hand, she heard the answers to her confusion unfold. Looking around, she hoped to find something to write with, finally settling on some old coal near the fireplace and kneeling on the floor next to her bronze. Leaning so that she could see the girl’s face, she held the coal into view to ask her next question as she made a motion, “Can you write?” [[Mine? What’s taking so long?]] Peronith pried, Kikikaa turning to look at her green and saying, “Just a beat Peronith. She can’t hear me.”
The girl giggled as the flit nuzzled up against her hand, and she scratched at his head gently, looking up when she saw the coal. "Oh, you're a rider!" she exclaimed, seeing the dragon's head in her doorway now. And then she stopped and blinked again. Oh, she'd gotten the question just fine. "I can read and write and do my figures just fine, and then some, Ma'am, but you don't want to stick around here. If anyone saw you, it'd be trouble," she said real fast. She knew most miners disliked the weyrs. And on the off-hand chance one happened to be headed their way, she didn't want to risk this rider being discovered.
Kikikaa smiled as Trouble worked his joyous magic of cheer on the girl. The greenrider worried slightly at the news, but she was here because Peronith wanted her to Stand. She quickly scratched ‘SEARCH’ on the floorboards and pointed at the green head in the doorway. “Peronith wants you to Stand. That’s why I risked coming here,” she said, hoping that her message was getting across. Treasure decided that she could do her own nosing about and headed back toward the door, hopping into flight to go have a look outside at her Pet’s worried thoughts.
"Search?" she voiced outloud, and then realized that Kikikaa meant her. She hadn't even thought about that possibility. "Well, I'm not sure about standing, but I sure would like to get out of here," she replied finally. "Everyone got killed when the mine exploded a seven-day ago. I stayed, hoping the Harper would be back, but he's still gone. I was about to leave myself though, when you showed up," she explained. This not being able to hear the otherside of the conversation was frusterating, she realized. But she was more worried about whether or not she'd even be able to be a harper again, or rather ever at all. She scratched the bronze's head a few more times, before standing back up. "Couldya at least take me with you? I don't think the riders want people who can't hear, but I have anywhere else to go now...Not now that my parents aren't alive, and well...I can't hear." She couldn't go to the craft of her choice now. That much sunk in, and she seemed more sad than before.
Kikikaa smiled as the girl stood up. She would figure out names later, but the girl had answered her unspoken question for her. She nodded in answer to her and motioned toward the door. “Peronith Searched you. We can go as soon as you’re ready.” Kneeling down briefly, she scratched a few more words on the floorboards: ‘NEED HELP PACKING?’ Trouble flitted up to the cot and nosed about on it since the attention had left from his merriness. [[Let’s go already,]] Peronith spoke both at her rider and at the girl. She did not like the quietness of the area. [[It’s too quiet here,]] she added to Hers alone.
Kalerae read the message real fast. "Nope, I was almost done," she replied. She was finishing putting a few change of clothes in her back when the green spoke, causing her to squeek. "What was that?" she asked, eyes wide. After her clothes, all she had left was her 'harper' stuff, and she wasn't about to leave that behind, even if she wouldn't ever be one now.
Kikikaa nodded before scraping her boot over the sooty inscriptions to somewhat erase them. No need to tell the Holds that a dragonrider had been here. Things were still very touchy with the Holdfolk. At the girl’s question, she looked at her to try to figure it out. The look on the girl’s face told the young greenrider that Peronith had bespoken directly to her. That meant that her hearing may return eventually or at least a dragon could communicate with her. She pointed at her green in the doorway. “Peronith spoke to you. Introduce us, Love,” she said, turning to her dragon at the last bit. Peronith crooned in acknowledgement and carried out the task. [] the dragon bespoke both again as Kikikaa offered to carry something for the girl.
"Oh..." she said, almost in a drawn out sort of way, understanding entirely now. It'd been her understanding only dragon riders could hear dragonkind, but she was glad for the green's voice. "I'm Kalerai. And thank you, but I'm fine. I just need to go grab a couple of more things real fast," she said, pointing to another room in the cot before disappearing behind the door to pack up her drawing stuff. These were, in her opinion, her most valuable possessions. But the smile that had been there had returned again. To be going somewhere new, with a dragon rider (she personally secretly adored the dragonkin), and to at least be hearing a kind of voice? It certainly made her day.
Kikikaa shook her head as the girl left the room, retreating outside to ready Peronith’s harness for some items for them to take with them. Kalerai was a very pretty name in her opinion. Peronith backed away from the cottage enough for her wingspan and lay on the ground while her rider readied her harness for luggage and the extra rider. Trouble chirped as he bounced from strap to strap in an attempt at helping his Pet to get ready, though he had learned over the turns not to loosen straps because they could result in bad things happening. Treasure had drifted off a short distance, her location only known by random avians fluttering from trees here and there from her playing with them. Peronith’s lithe head snapped up to attention at a sound and a flock of avians flew from the treeline along with Treasure zipping full speed toward them in a panic.
Those last few things that she had, she easily put into her bag before she wrapped both arms around it and trotted her way outside, slightly watching from behind as Kikikaa got her dragon ready for flight. Just a small part of her was worried about leaving the only real place she ever knew, but she knew that she couldn't very well stay there, so she would brace herself to go. Whereever it was she was going...Actually, she wasn't sure where that was. When Peronith's head shot up, the avians fluttered away, and Treasure came back towards them full speed, her eyes went wide. "I think someone saw you. . . " she mumbled quietly, hoping that she was wrong. She was certain there was nothing in the area to startle everything like that.
Kikikaa looked up as her green fire lizard returned, her caution turned full tilt as Trouble joined the anxiousness and Kalerai’s words further echoed her worries. “Peronith, keep watch. We need to hurry, Love,” she said as she turned back to the girl and motioned for her things. “Let’s hope we’re lucky, Kalerai,” she said as she shooed Treasure away from her head.
The girl quickly scurried over to who she considered her new friend, handing her the bag that she held close to her body. "Miner don't like riders, cause of all the firestone mining of old," she mumbled quietly, repeating the phrase word for word as she had heard it growing up. "And Kikikaa...I think there's only miners in the area. . ." she added. She was nervous now. What would spook a dragon and two flits? She certainly couldn't think of anything.
Kikikaa nodded to Kalerai’s information as she took the bag and made certain that it was secured to her green’s harness. Once she was finished, she pulled down a strap for them to mount easier, but her movement was hampered by Trouble and Treasure suddenly squawking and scurrying out of the way of something whistling. [[Mine!!]] Peronith warned too late, afraid to move lest she make her rider fall to the ground. Kikikaa looked up at her dragon’s mental shout to find pain searing through her shoulder, falling against her dragon before stumbling to the ground. “Kalerai, get down!” she cried out in warning.
Kale looked around a bit, quickly, once she handed her bag over, trying to think of anything at all that could possibly be spooking the dragon and flits. She honestly couldn't think of anything though, and when Trouble and Treasure dashed out of the way passed where she was looking, she turned only to see Kikikaa fall to the ground by her dragon. Eyes wide, the girl froze, as voices from nearby shouted "Don't let 'em take her!!" Not that Kale could hear them. It took her a few moments but she unfroze and quickly went to Kikikaa's side. "Are you okay?!" she asked, somewhat panicked and forgetting she wouldn't hear the answer anyway. Nevermind that there was obviously an arrow sticking out of her shoulder. Just as she saw that, she turned and saw the shooter standing nearby, another arrow ready to fly. "NO!" she shouted, jumping up in the way.
Kikikaa heard the shouts of the men, or at least a man, that had ambushed them. There was more than one by the words she had just heard. Searching just did not get any easier. Reaching over to Kalerai with bloody fingers already, she pulled her close with her left hand, her right immobilized by the arrow’s placement. [[Peronith…cover us,]] she thought to her life mate, gritting her teeth against the burning in her shoulder. Turning emerald eyes to the girl, she looked to see if the arrow had been loosed. “Kalerai?” she asked, hoping for an answer.
The one shooting had hestitated when Kalerai jumped in front of the rider, wondering what on earth the girl could be doing. That was, he hestitated until Kikikaa reached for her and pulled her down. Then he did let it go, hoping to get the rider, not the girl. It clipped her as she fell before burying itself in the ground right by them. She tried to get up again, saying, "We gotta go. . ." And the sooner the better.
“Wait,” Kikikaa began, trying to keep the young girl down beside her. Peronith’s wing draped between them and their attackers and only then did she let Kalerai go. She pushed the girl upward toward the harness. “Climb!” she told her, forgetting that she could not hear her voice, holding on to her dragon’s hide for some hope of balance. “Kalerai’s been Searched!” she shouted at those around them. Her vision was somewhat hazed as she tried to see how many were nearest the. {{Trouble, Treasure, fly away!!}} Kikikaa thought to her firelizards as she found her feet. This was going to be one flight she was going to hate. Peronith hissed at the men around her, her tail lashing back and forth and her head snaking toward one or another with sharp teeth bared in warning.
She only briefly kept trying to kep up, knowing that there was a reason why Kikikaa didn't want her to get up. When the green wing drapped over them and she was pushed towards the harness, she blinked. "Oh..." Kale mumbled then. It'd taken her a minute, but she figured out that Kikikaa just wanted her to stay down long enough for the green to protect them and the girl to get up on the dragon. So she climbed, not even knowing that she'd been told to climb. And the men kept yelling. No child from their part of Pern was going to be Searched, not if they had a say in it.
Trouble and Treasure darted skyward at their Pet’s plea, soon becoming specs of color high above the area, fluttering wildly as they obeyed their Pet. Kikikaa knew that they would be exposed once they reached Peronith’s ridges, but she had to at least secure Kalerai enough to get them airborne. “She chose to come with us!” she shouted back at the men, risking exposure to her back as she scrambled closely behind the girl. Once at the saddle, she patted the saddle where she needed Kalerai to sit. “Sit here! We’ll be in the air soon!” she told her, straddling her dragon’s saddle backwards to try to work straps and clips one-handed and certainly not her dominant hand.
Once up on the dragon, she got a better look at the men causing the problems. Not people that she knew. Why did they honestly care then what happened, she didn't know, but she was paying careful attention to Kikikaa now. It'd be easier if she could hear what she was being told, but at least she was able to figure it out real easy with the motions that the rider made. She sat there, glaring at the men, but watching what Kikikaa was doing. "Show me which one where," she said, when she saw the rider struggling. They'd both been hurt, but the rider was the one who'd actually gotten an arrow stuck in her.
Kikikaa glanced about her as Peronith rose to her feet to further hamper the men from getting any closer to her and Hers. Used to dragon motion, the dark haired rider sat her backwards saddle easily, blood trailing down her arm in a few small streaks beneath her flight jacket only to be seen on her hand. “This one around your waist like this,” the greenrider said as she reached for a thicker strap that looked like a belt, then pointed to her own belt just beneath the hem of her jacket. {{How’s the company, Peronith?}} she thought to her green as she hoped she was conveying the right instructions to the girl.
It was easy to tell what she needed dto do with that one and she wrapped it around her waist just as you would a belt, securing it in place before waiting for more instructions. She got distracted long enough to see the men getting closer to the pair of them. "Umm...." she said, worried. Couldn't they just fly now?!
They were almost ready for flight. As soon as there were two clips on Kalerai’s belt. Peronith flared her wings and spun at the nearest man, temporarily causing Kikikaa to lose her perch, but she wrapped her good arm into a strap to save herself. “Clip the sides to the saddle!” she told her rider, righting herself in the process. [[Clip your belt to the saddle!]] Peronith grumbled quickly to Hers and Kalerai. The straps were sort of self-explained, but the needed words were the answers. Kikikaa fumbled with a clip on hers. If she had one clipped, Peronith could take off with the pair of them at least attached.
Again, it didn't take too much explination, and once the green's voice popped in her mind again, she knew she had it. So she quickly clipped herself to the saddle with what she could find, and then twisted to try and help Kikikaa with her. Not that a twelve-turn-old knew much about riding compared to an actual rider, but that didn't stop her from trying to at least get them in the sky faster.
With Kalerai’s help, Kikikaa was secured to one side of her saddle and it was then that she cleared her dragon for take off. [[Go, Peronith! We’re attached.]] she thought to her green before shouting at the men with what energy adrenaline gave her at the moment. “Peronith of Izuko has Searched Kalerai. She belongs with the Weyr now!” Peronith hunkered on her front end, rocking back to her hind while whipping her tail at a few men, tripping at least two of them. A mere moment later, she launched roughly into the air, long wings flapping quickly for altitude from her difficult take-off. In the green’s movements, Kikikaa was spun around and slipped to the side of her dragon, but the strap that she was clipped to held her safely against the saddle. She would right herself once they were out of reach of the arrows and her green could hover.
Moments later, they were high enough that the green could hover for her rider to struggle into place on the saddle, breaking the arrow off on a piece of harness leather that it had gotten snagged in. That was a pain the former Runner was never going to forget. Once she was finally seated and clipped on the other side, she turned to look at her passenger. “Are you okay?” she asked, bronze and green fire lizard flitting close by since they were safe now.
Kalerai yelped when they took off into the sky, not necessarily because she hurt, but rather because the moment startled her, even though she'd been waiting for it to come for so long. She knew Kikikaa had yelled at the men, but she didn't know what and hoped that, whatever it was, it wasn't something would lead to regret later on down the road. She was glad when they finally settled into the sky and the flits returned to them and she looked down at the men, who were obviously angry that the pair had gotten away. And when they did settle, she sighed before looking at Kikikaa. "You okay?" she asked at the same time.
Kikikaa smiled when Kalerai echoed her question. Obviously she was not alright, but she was alert enough to figure out how they were going to make it to the Weyr. She remembered hearing of the dangers of Betweening with open wounds, but she was too far away for a straight flight. Her only hope was to send Treasure with a message back to the Weyr. Her brothers were never going to let her go out alone again. She nodded, moving her left hand to the shaft of the arrow in her right shoulder, tucking her right forearm against her side and stomach. She did not know if it had gone clean through, but it was throbbing and the pain seemed to be spreading down her arm and up into her neck. “I’ll be okay,” she answered, giving her dragon the heading for home. Thinking hard to her fire lizards, she had to calm them to make Treasure’s errand go smoothly. If not, the poor green would be delivering a jumbled message. “I’m sorry for the rough take off,” she apologized, though her words would probably be lost in silence.
Kalerai indeed didn't catch the apology. She was more focused on the rider's bleeding. At least they were moving though. But she did catch the "I'll be ok" simply because Kikikaa hadn't seemed to give a negative answer. "Can't we just between to your weyr?" she asked quietly, forgetting she wouldn't even be able to comprehend the answer probably. The difficulties of being deaf were ones that she would have to start remembering soon, otherwise conversations would get to be very frusteration for her quite quickly.
Kikikaa shook her head in answer. “One rule of Between: never Between with an open wound,” she replied back, forgetting that her passenger could not hear as her adrenaline was starting to wane. Treasure soon winked out of sight, but Trouble remained as Peronith settled into a smooth flight toward their home. Kikikaa would be willing to risk Between if she knew that someone was waiting to help her should anything go wrong while she was in the cold nothingness.
Kalerai frowned some and sighed, as she didn't get more beyond the fact that they couldn't between to wherever it was they were going. She saw the little flit disappear between and wondered where she had disappeared to. Since there wasn't much of anything that she could do, she held her arm out for the little bronze to come and get affectious again. He'd been sweet and she liked him. The miner girl didn't even know that she had started to hum one of the learning ballads, the one about dragons, the duty song. It was one of her favorites.
Peronith crooned as she recognized the humming as something her rider had a tendency to sing. [[Mine, are you okay?]] the lithe green asked of her rider, feeling the drowsiness starting to take hold after the rush of adrenaline had left the dark haired woman. {{I’m okay, Peronith. Just keep flying until we hear back from Treasure.}} Kikikaa thought back to her dragon. Trouble finally settled enough to realize that the miner girl was asking for his attention, so he flew in close enough to make a careful landing on a ridge just in front of the girl, looking up at her to acknowledge her existence with whirling blue-green eyes.
The girl kept humming until she finished that song, and then moved onto the next, never quite realizing that she was actually making any sound with her humming. She smiled as the flit landed in front of her, giving him a scratch. She wished that she could hear, because she was desperately wanting to have a conversation with her rescuer. It'd been a long few days and she was desperate for some company. But it wasn't really possible to talk to someone when you couldn't hear their responses, so she kept quiet and humming softly.
Kikikaa listened to the humming for a while, wishing that she could Between home safely. She was about to start giving into the pain when Treasure blinked back to her with a message from the Healers. It was safe for them to Between home. “We’re gonna Between home. Hold your breath and count to three,” she managed to tell her passenger. Peronith’s sanity was returning and so she conveyed the message to the girl, having not heard the miner girl’s response to it after a moment. [[Hold your breath and count to three. We Between,]] as soon as the green was done with her message, they went Between a few moments later.
The cold dark nothingness of Between was quickly replaced by a slightly warmer air above Izuko Island where Peronith immediately started her descent toward the Healer’s quarters. Kalerai would be confined there or transported to the Welcome Island once things were taken care of. The blood that centered around Kikikaa’s wound had frozen in its place during their brief trip Between and she no longer felt much in her shoulder as she worked on getting unclipped to get herself and Kalerai down. Showing the Healer that had come to them a Search token, she turned to give it to Kalerai when she had made it to the ground and motioned for her to follow them inside.
Kalerai nodded when the green gave her the message. She couldn't remember if there was a song about between or not, and honestly considering how short it was, she doubted that there was. Once they had landed and their harnesses undone, she slid down the green and looked up at Kikikaa. The woman didn't seem to be doing well, if you were to ask her. But she took the token from her, looking at it curiously, and then blinking.
Oh...she realized that she was supposed to follow then healer then and did so. The miner girl wasn't entirely certain that she wanted to leave the rider, considering that the rider knew more about her than this person did, but she wasn't about to disobey and cause a commotion. No, rather to let them take care of the green-rider first.
A short time later, Kikikaa’s shoulder was treated for her injury and a thick, gooey black salve was slathered all around the hole that the arrow had left. Eodira had said that it would draw out infection if any were to occur. It was then that the greenrider, while sipping on warm tea, had enough sense in her head to ask for some slate and some charcoal so that she could communicate with her Searchee better. Drawing the lettering on the slate, she asked Kalerai if she was hurt anywhere during their scuffle. After she received an answer, she motioned toward the Healer present to check her over, Eodira having gone off to check a troublesome birth’s process to one of the Lower Cavern’s workers.
Kalerai had waited paitently and quietly while the green rider was treated. It wasn't until she was asked if she'd gotten hurt too that she remembered all the arrows that had been shot their way. "Just a small scratch," she said, showing where one of the arrows had grazed her arm. She let the healer that remained treat it.
Kikikaa smiled as the Healer got to work, writing down a few more things after wiping the slate clean of charcoal with a soft cloth. ‘YOU WILL BE A CANDIDATE NOW. LORINA WILL TEACH YOU HOW TO BECOME A RIDER.’ After she showed that message to her deaf friend, she wiped it clean again and wrote down some more words. ‘SINCE YOU CAN HEAR PERONITH, YOU’RE STILL ABLE TO RIDE IF YOU CHOOSE TO STAND WHEN THE EGGS HATCH.’ The former beat herder smiled at the miner girl and awaited her answers.
