[D15.M09.T1164] Golden Concerns (attn Shiada)

[Katlyn]

On that date, golden Fraith was exactly four turns, four months, and five days old. No one was counting to that level of preciseness, but her Weyrwoman knew that she was four turns old, give her take a few months. Ardalae also knew that Fraith was still considered a maiden gold, as did the entire weyr. And Ardalae knew the entire weyr had to be silently looking at her for a mistake she'd made almost two turns before, while still a weyrling.

Honestly, she'd been trying to learn what the rest of her fellow weyrlings had be learning. What size firestone is best for what kind of dragon. How the process of breathing fire worked for the other four colors. At that point in time, she'd started taking lessons very seriously. Even though she knew that, with her sight, they'd never fight thread to begin with, and even if that weren't an issue, Fraith's color was, she still wanted to know what she could about a matter that impacted all the other dragons of the weyr so intensely. It'd been that desire that had caused the then just over a turn old gold, new to Igen, to go ahead and chew her own batch of firestone. After all, why ever couldn't she, a QUEEN, do what her fellows did. Like any queen, she'd thrown it up mere hours later, but not without sending a fright through her rider.

Now, memories of that event coursed through the junior weyrwoman as she walked towards the infirmary. Four turns and however many months was far too old. Fraith ought to have risen by now, and everyone in the weyr knew it. She heard whispers about it. Some seemed to think maybe she was still being selfish, keeping her gold from Rising. Other whispers mentioned that fateful day a few turns ago that had left her on pins and needles. But she would not sit by and let the weyr talk while her Gold went Flightless, Clutchless. No ladies and gentlemen she would not!

((Shiada, Mine is coming to speak with you,)) the second to youngest gold informed the HAD and dragonhealer. No Fraith didn't know why her rider wished to speak with her, but she didn't exactly care. The chirp of a firelizard proceeding the woman as they entered the infirmary, where she'd assumed Shiada would be, would be their only warning. Hopefully the woman wasn't busy.

[LadyT]

Shiada was taking stock of the inventory in the infirmary, all four of her flits 'helping' her. Shicas was mostly just keeping out of the way, watching for anyone who might want to hurt his Pet. The two greens were causing just a little bit of trouble; both of them trying to eat anything that could possibly be food. Vas was the only one who could be considered helping, for once not following Shiar. He was letting Shiada use his eyes to see exactly what was on the top shelves. She could have easily grabbed a ladder, but the blue flit wanted to help. Plus, she supposed this was faster than her climbing up and down a ladder.

Just as she was counting jars of numbweed, she received a message from Fraith, stating that Ardalae would be coming to see her. There could only be one reason that the goldrider would come see her, a dragonhealer. She heard a chirp indicating that someone was outside, probably Ardalae and her own flit. "Right, you to out," she said to the two greens. They didn't need any flits causing trouble. Vadar started to complain loudly, but Shiada shook her head. ((Go play with the children,)) she said showing an image of her youngest. That seemed to satisfy Vadar and she and Shiar popped between, presumably to go beg treats out of her children.

With that taken care of she turned her attention to the goldrider entering the infirmary. "Good day, Goldrider Ardalae," she said with a smile on her face. No need to start the meeting off negatively, was her feeling. Vas landed on her shoulder, and chirped his greeting. Shicas, on the other hand, took a look at Ardalae's brown flit to make sure it was safe, then went back to 'keeping watch.'

[Katlyn]

Copper would give a happy chirp back to both of the flits who had remained before he flitted away to land on a shelf somewhere, in an empty spot of course, before curling up and dozing every so slightly. There was no point in him not taking a nap now that His was exactly where she'd wanted to be.

Ardalae would give a small smile back, almost rolling her eyes when the brown flitted off to be somewhat lazy, but didn't do as such. That would only be taken as being rude, she was certain of it. "Hello," she replied, almost chipperly though not entirely so. It was obvious, between the small smile, and a slight tone to her voice, that she was concerned. Very, very concerned. "How're you doing today, Shiada?" she asked though. Pleasantries were something she'd actually come to enjoy. Besides, there wasn't a rush...Not much of one really at least.

[LadyT]

Shiada watched Copper fly off and chuckled when he curled up for a nap. "They certainly have their priorities straight," she said indicating the flit. Shiada sat down on one of the more comfortable chairs in the room, indicating that Ardalae should do the same if she pleased. "Oh I'm doing pretty well, actually," she said with a smile. "Just taking inventory." A small, and somewhat sad, smile crossed her lips. "But I assume you didn't come to help me out, hm? So what can I do for you?"

[Katlyn]

The goldrider giggled and nodded. Yes, they certainly did. "Well, if you can help me figure this out and get this fixed, then I'll be glad to help you every day in my freetime," she replied with a smaller, slightly weaker grin, before sitting down too. Copper, even despite his 'nap' was doing his 'duty' by her, though things weren't quite so bad with her sight as they'd been four turns prior. But once she was sat, he was out cold, at least for the time being.

"I figured you'd be the best one to go to, of the dragonhealers...She's four turns old now. She should have Risen...The entire weyr knows it. I hear them talking about it..." she said, sadness and a slight amount of despiration slipping into her voice. Her head hung slightly then. "Some, no names of course, have even said it's my fault for letting her have that firestone..." she mumbled then. Surely the healer remembered that incident.

Besides, everyone knew that firestone rendered a dragon unable to bear eggs. What the goldrider had never heard though was it kept the dragon from rising. But her Fraith hadn't even gotten to that step yet. It seemed like it would be a miracle if she got that far, eggs weren't even in the front of the goldrider's mind yet.

[LadyT]

"Yes I thought that's why you might have come," Shiada said sitting back. She took in a deep breath and let it out. "Now I have examined Fraith myself," she started. "And I can tell you that I have found nothing wrong with her." She leaned forward and put a hand on Ardalae's. "As for that incident with the firestone, well I'm sure your Fraith isn't the first gold to have tried that trick. That wasn't your fault; golds can be quite headstrong." She patted Ardalae's hand before leaning back again.

"If it was the firestone that was causing the problem, she would have flown already and just ended up barren. After all, greens chew firestone and they still fly; they just don't clutch." Shiada shook her head, knowing that Ardalae could probably only barely see it. "And I'm not telling you this to make you feel better, either," she added. "It just doesn't logically make sense. Anyone saying differently isn't using their head." She might have asked to know the names of who would say such a thing, or at least ask Ardalae to go to the Weyrwoman about it. But these were hard times, and some people needed a gossipy outlet, something to talk about besides Holder attacks and dead friends.

[Katlyn]

"But that's why I'm worried," she stated then. "She should have already flown. Even if it's not the firestone. What else could it possibly be, that she's over four turns old and hasn't yet?" she had to ask despite the reassurances that her Fraith was perfectly fine. A perfectly fine four turn old gold should have flown at least once, if not twice by now. Which meant, in her mind, that despite the healer's search, there had to be something wrong, to some extent. Though the idea that people were just being plain silly on quoting that once incident on the matter did help make her feel a little bit better.

Nevermind the fact that Fraith's younger counter-part also had yet to Rise. Sure, she'd considered Tsunath's apparent lack of interest in doing such as well, but...well...she was focused on her lifemate, not someone elses. Tsunath was probably a matter of days away from rising.

"Do you think the holders could have gotten to her somehow. . . When none of us were looking, and didn't realize what they were doing?" she asked suddenly, that thought having just come to mind. Would they stoop to such levels as that? Was it even possible? And why were the holders always so concerned with trying to get rid of the ones who kept them safe?

[LadyT]

Shiada saw the worry in Ardalae and felt real sympathy for the young woman. The thought of Holders getting to Fraith though brought a smile to her face, if only at the image of a bunch of Holderfolk trying to sneak of up on the gold. "Oh I don't think the Holders would brave Fraith's wrath by trying to hurt her directly. And if they had done something to the water or food, the other dragons would be affected too. No, I don't think this is an attack of some kind."

She paued for a moment, again becoming more serious as she thought about it. "You are right, however, that it is odd that Fraith hasn't flown yet. While it is possible that I have missed something, I don't think I have. In my opinion, she has just taken an unusually long time to mature, and chances are that's just due to stress. None of the golds have been exactly regular since the disaster. Shards, two turns ago no gold rose." While she paused again Vas shifted from her shoulder to sit on the back of the chair. Shicar had already landed there, at once guarding her and yet ignoring everything he could. She wasn't going to add that Ardalae's blindness only added to the stress that Fraith was under; the girl didn't need that sort of burden and there wasn't anything to do about it now. "I've heard of this sort of thing happening with girls. Sometimes they don't start their cycle until turns after what is normal, and all due to unusual stress. But, and this is key, they do start it eventually. Fraith will rise to mate eventually, just on her own time is all. Really what she needs is a bit of relaxation."

[Katlyn]

Movement about the room, even if it was just in the form of the other two flits, cause Copper to open an eye. After a moment or two, he stretched his wings out again, uncurling, and gliding down to land on Ardalae's lap before recurling up and churring a soft noise that was, more or less, his form of a flit like snore.

Ardalae ran a hand over him gently while she considered briefly the idea that it could simply be stress. It seemed way to easy for that to be the cause though. Maybe she was trying to look for a problem where once didn't exsist (Fraith gave a grumble where she rested to show she was certainly in agreement with that thought) but she couldn't help but think that it was more than simply stress. Perhaps it was her right to be so concerned about it. Afterall, part of their usefulness to the Weyr was in her dragon's ability to breed. But she knew too that Fraith had a desire to have eggs of her own, littles of her own, and that wasn't possible until the Gold actually Rose.

"If it's just stress then, then why hasn't Tsunath Risen either?" she pointed out curiosly. The youngest gold was only a few months younger than her Fraith. Surely then, that was something that needed looking at too.

[LadyT]

Shiada watched Copper land on Ardalae's lap and curl up again with a smile. Even in the worst circumstances, flits were a source of amusement to Shiada. "Again, stress," Shiada said to Ardalae's question. "Tsunath was still a weyrling when...when we had to leave Tristar." It was still difficult for Shiada to talk about the disaster without getting choked up. She took in a deep breath, then continued on. "Tsunath and Fraith were the only golds who hadn't yet matured when we left. It makes sense that the stress of leaving in such chaos combined with the constant worry of Holder attacks has caused them both not to rise yet." She offered the goldrider a small smile. "In fact, I'd go so far as to suggest that the fact that Tsunath hasn't risen yet only goes to prove my point further."

[Katlyn]

((You're worrying for no reason, Mine...)) the gold chimed in then. ((Tell her she's being a worry wort,)) she added to the healer who was trying to reassure her rider that there was absolutely nothing wrong with her. In the gold's mind, she would know if there was somethin wrong with her, and as far as the gold was concerned, there wasn't a single thing wrong with her. But she got shushed silently by her rider, who really was only trying to look out for her own welfare.

Deciding not to stay on the topic of the disastor that had brought them to the warm weyr, and forced the pair to grow up rather quickly at the same time, Ardalae decided to address the topic in a different manor. "Alright then. Let's say that's all it is. What do you think can be done to...speed up the process of getting her to Rise? The stress of all that isn't going to go away...And Pern needs all the breeding golds it can get..." she pointed out. No she didn't want to force the situation, but they couldn't exactly sit back idly.

[LadyT]

Shiada chuckled at Fraith's words. "Your gold tells me to tell you that you are being a worry wort," she said with a smile on her lips. She was just as happy to turn the conversation away from the earthquake and volcano. "Pern does need all the dragons it can get, yes." She thought for a few moments again about what could be done. "This isn't a problem that can be fixed with a salve or medicine. What I can say is that worrying about it won't help. Keep her away from as many stressful situations as you can. She will do what she likes, of course, but I'd say the best thing you can do is to keep her out of as much of the mess her at Igen as you can." She sighed an put up her hands. "It's not much, but then this isn't something that you or I can fix, really."

[Katlyn]

She gave a grim smile. "Yeah, I guess I am some..." she said quietly. She just hated the fact that people were talking about them again, like there was something wrong with them. As if they hadn't been pulling their weight and helping the weyr. "I hope M'cleod and D'verado find somewhere...safe then. I'm not entirely certain that we can get out of stressful situations until we're away from here," she said quietly. She doubted that there were many who didn't agree with that statement.

[LadyT]

Shiada gave a snort and nodded. "That is a true enough statement," she said with some heat. "Eventually it will be sorted out. Either Thread returns and then the Holders all scamper into their safe Holds with their tails between their legs, or we find someplace to move that is out of the way of everyone." She smiled sarcastically and said, "Or the Holders realize their mistake and leave us be."

[Katlyn]

"I do believe at this point, that I'd prefer the second of those three end scenarios. I'm sure we're plenty well equipped to take care of ourselves, beyond what we have been," she stated simply. Sure they still had a number of allies amongst the non weyrfolk to help them, but that number was small compared to the number of enemies they had likewise.

"you're sure there's nothing that can be done about her not having risen yet?" she asked agian, just once more. She wanted to be positive.