Lost that Loving Feelin' (Zaylee)

[HG]

The aftermath of the Flight was a bit of a jumble. It was a few days later, he was sitting in the Weyrhall where the night hearth was located. The plush chair he was sitting on allowed him to stare into the fire of the hearth, deep in thought. He didn't much like being second. In any way. The ambition of the Bronze rider was not quenched by losing the Flight.

He would be Weyrleader again, someday. J'ldaem would have to enjoy his short term in the position. The Weyr was already beginning to get more suspicious of Issarith and Sakorai. Now with the outsider Bronze winning her flight things had been made worse. He could sense, almost without Zorometh's added empathy there was a rift forming within the Weyr. The feeling made him uneasy. The Weyr needed to be one, together, strong. One never knew when the Holdless would strike again.

After days of thoughts like this the man was becoming a bit too introverted for his own good. So with a large amount of prodding on Zorometh's part the lack luster D'seus sat in the Weyrhall, listening to other people talk in hushed tones and the crackle of the fire. The wine glass he held still held almost all the liquid it had when poured. He sighed, losing was so much worse when it was losing to someone you disliked greatly.

[hbk]

Zaylee entered the Dining Cavern with a laugh, a smile wreathing her face as she gathered up her hair, gave it a twist and pulled it over her shoulder. It had begun to rain softly outside and she'd been right in the middle of the Weyrbowl when it had decided to do so. Unlike some who found the rain bothersome or dreary, Zaylee still found a certain amount of amusement in playing in the rain.

Well, I don't like the rain. I miss the sun. Aphrioth intruded into Zaylee's thoughts, her voice colored with displeasure.

Oh, you'll be fine. Allow me a little fun, hm? Zaylee told her dragon as she headed straight for the service tables and poured herself a hot cup of klah to chase off the shivers that the rain had caused.

As she stood, taking a refreshing drink of the klah, Zaylee's eyes zeroed in on the form of a familiar bronzerider seated in front of one of the many hearths. D'seus. She could remember him quite well from her last mating flight, which his bronze had won. Never one to be unsociable, Zaylee headed over and seated herself in the chair beside of the bronzerider.

"Hello D'seus."

[HG]

The familiar voice of the young blonde pulled him out from his thoughts of failure. If there was one thing that could make this day better it was a visit from a beautiful woman. Luckily for him, he was fairly popular among the women of the weyr. Still he did his best to remember the women he spent time with. The twins were often hard to tell apart when one looked at them but their personalities varied as did their voices. This was most definitely Zaylee.

“Good evening Zaylee.” He smiled in his usual charming manner, though it was obvious from his eyes that he was not as happy as he usually was. “Were you out in the rain long?” He asked, observing that she was wet. The fire and klah was surely doing her some good then. More than his less than stimulating conversation was in any case. He was used to being talkative but tonight he was not feeling particularly loquacious.

Lighten up. He thought to himself. There was a perfectly lovely young woman, taking time to talk to him instead of any of the younger men hanging around the Night Hearth. There had to be a reason and it certainly wasn’t to hear anything as boring as the concerns of having two outsider Weyrleaders.

You really shouldn’t keep all these negative feelings around you. It is not good. The Bronze agreed. He wanted D’seus to let loose for a bit. Generally he felt better after he had a little fun. Balance in his life had always been hard for the workaholic.

[hbk]

"Unfortunatley no," Zaylee said with a laugh, "I was in the middle of the Weyrbowl when it started. Unfortunately I didn't have much excuse to stay out in it. I'm afraid I might start getting weird looks if I played out in the rain the way the weyrbrats do." She grinned while talking to the bronzerider. Like her twin, the ability to be social was a trait that Zaylee had inherited. The greenrider found it easy to just be herself, no matter who she was talking to, or their rank for that matter.

"What has you sitting in here brooding by yourself? You're not usually a loner." Zaylee wanted to know. D'seus was by no means an unattractive man and usually didn't have trouble finding company if he wanted it. She had a feeling that it could have something to do with the fact that he'd lost the Weyrleadership flight, again.

[HG]

Strange. Women did not generally like getting soaked. As he found out, they didn’t like being cold and usually the one went hand in hand with the other. To each his own though. He’d rather be at the beach if he was going to get wet. A nice swim would be much more enjoyable than splashing around in a mud puddle. When he was a child he might have thought differently. He returned her smile. It was hard not to smile back at people when they were glowing with happiness.

He nodded, conceding he was brooding. “There has been a lot of change for the Weyr lately. Sakorai is very new and J’ldaem has always been a bit of a black sheep. I don’t know if you sense the unease in the Weyr but its getting worse on a daily basis. What troubles me most is what will happen if the Weyr begins to divide…” He was upset about losing the Weyrleadership as well but his own feelings aside, he was more on edge than he had been before.

“If the Holdless find out the Weyr is not in full support of the current leadership we will be in great danger.” Not that this was really his concern. He was only a Wingleader and he doubted J’ldaem would care to hear anything that came out of his mouth. At least A’lez had treated him as close to equal as he could. He would rather have any other Bronzerider be leader right now. “Enough of political talk…” He left off. He did not want to think about it any longer. It would be better if he simply let himself stop worrying over the details.

“Are you thinking about applying to be on Search in the North?” He knew they needed more volunteers and she seemed the more adventurous of the twins. Vaylee was much better suited for healing than for Searching which kept her busier than a normal dragonrider. Although both of their greens were quite empathetic or so he had been told. Neither of them were in his wing so he could only go off what their Wingmates mentioned.

[hbk]

Zaylee listened to the man's talk about Weyr politics with a guarded expression. She'd heard similar talk all over the Weyr since Issarith's flight. Some thought the outsider Queen and her rider were ridiculous and absolutely did not fit in to their Weyr. After all, what would a queenrider from the past know of present tensions and politics- zip. And from what Zaylee had gathered Sakorai was nothing but a weyrhopper herself.

As for J'ldaem, Zaylee wasn't sure what to make of the bronzerider. Oh sure, she'd heard his name throughout her Turns at Refuge, but suddenly he had sprung up out of nowhere to claim the position as Weyrleader. To Zaylee it all seemed very suspicious, but who was she but a lowly greenrider?

Zaylee wasn't sure if a young goldrider like Suynie was ready to be a Senior Weyrwoman, either, but at least Suynie was from their Time and understood the Holdless situation and what would be needed to keep the Weyr unified. Zaylee could also solidly say she'd wished that A'lez or D'seus had won the leadership flight. Someone familiar and someone they knew had experience.

Shaking her head to clear the sordid thoughts, Zaylee gave a smile when D'seus mentioned Searchriding, "You know, I think I would like to be a Searchrider! I love getting outdoors and exploring, plus, you know me, I've never met a stranger. I think I could talk a Holdles into letting me have his best weapon...." she pulled a face, "allright, maybe that's a little exaggeration." She winked.

[HG]

D’seus smiled, “You would be a perfect Searchrider.” After all beautiful young women made great ambassadors to the Weyr. For the obvious if shallow reasons, people would want to come to the Weyr in the hopes there were more like her. He could imagine the reactions she would get if she Searched with her sister. Faranth help the Northernors! “Being an ambiable person is part of the job. I’m sure Aphrioth would be able to tell if someone was worthy of a Clutch. I will inform E’dros. He and Ciroth will likely conduct and interview to make certain Aphrioth can sense when someone is worthy. He’s the head Searchrider, Ciroth is the best Search dragon in the Weyr.” Which, to D’seus’s knowledge, was saying something about the pair and their accomplishments.

There were several dragons whom he would never have Search, withholding Bronzes and Browns. Most greens were not suited for the task because they generally liked everyone. Though he would prefer having a ton of people to choose from than none at all. Dragons like Nemesyth would make poor Search dragons because of their lack of empathy towards other humans. And he shuddered to think what N’var would do if let loose in the North. The greenrider was no longer under his authority however, having been transferred to Pyralis wing.

Back to the beauty in front of him, he laughed, “You could try!” He was sure they would treat her the same as anyone else. If they could kill a Queen dragon and her rider in cold blood, they could kill anyone. “Now don’t get carried away Searching only the best looking young men in the North. I don’t want all that competition…” He said jokingly. She would probably want to search more young, good looking men and he couldn’t say he would blame her.

[hbk]

Zaylee grinned, "I don't know, D'seus, this Weyr could use a little more eye candy for when all of the bronzeriders are tied up with a gold flight. Trust me, outside the selection of bronze and brown riders the selection gets pretty slim." The greenrider winked as she began running her fingers through her hair, letting the heat from the fire dry the damp locks. On any other woman it probably would have turned out disasterous, but Zaylee was one of those girls who never looked bad, even half-soaked from the rain. As the fire began drying her hair it simply turned into softer waves around her face.

"I've never Searched before so either way I'm looking foward to the opportunity. Especially since it gives me a chance to see a bit of the North." Since she was a born and raised, through and through, Southern girl Zaylee had never seen the Northern Continent and had only met a few people in her lifetime that were from there. She'd heard a lot of rumors about it, about how the people had once lived in this large, magestic Holds, and that the Weyrs had covered huge mountain ranges, all filled with dragons and people. It was such a thing of the past that the stories were nearly myths, and Zaylee could barely imagine such a thing ever existing.