A Hopeful Feeling (open)

[freya]

Trelia was sitting in the sands as she looked at the empty hatching sands below and sighed. She let her eyes play over the level sands and the empty stands imagining the day that would be very soon when gold Issarith's eggs would hatch even though they we're yet to be laid. The young woman had been disappointed a turn ago when the gold had gone to another candidate and with hopeful thoughts hoped that it would not happen again. When she kept looking at the sands and didn't really pay attention to anything else around her. Her hope that in either in this queen's eggs or in Gold Rhiannoth would be her gold lifemate.

She was dressed in her customary black leather pants and a white dress peasant shirt that went to her thighs. Her hair was in a braid to keep it out of her face and the black boots we're needed because of the hot sands. The young woman remained quiet as she started to hum a bit and her legs we're dangling off the edge of the seats. Trelia tried to be more carefree and think about other thoughts because it might make the terrible thoughts of not impressing go away. A few other girls would stand with her on that day and she repeated to herself silently that it would be her that would impress that day.

It was no guarantee that it would be her who would impress that day or even if there was a gold queen in the eggs laid. She hoped that somehow with a young bronze winning the flight that it would produce a queen yet who knew what would come out of the gold queen. Trelia stopped for a moment before she jumped down from the stands then landed on her feet and started to walk down the steps towards the sands. When she reached the sands the young woman kicked around some dirt for a moment then just folded her harms looking ahead with eyes and heart full of hope.

[HG]

((Sorry for the wait I was trying to think of who would be best to throw in here))

The general tasks, like cleaning the Hatching Sands were reserved for Drudges and Candidates. However, the Dragon Healers often inspected them to make sure the Queens would be comfortable and that there were no inconsistencies in the Sands. So Vaylee had been volunteered by her superiors to go and have a look around. When she arrived, there was someone on the Sands already. The blonde did not want to spook or scare the other young woman so she called over to her in her soft voice, “Excuse me, are you here for any particular reason?”

Maybe they had sent someone to help her after all. Doubtful. She is one of the Candidates. She might want to help you. The Candidates are supposed to be looking into crafts. Perhaps you can suggest she might like to try dragon healing. The good natured and lovable green was still sitting on her own ledge. She didn’t go into the Hatching Caverns it was a place for Queens and their mates.

She was wearing her riding leathers today because she had to do some endurance training on Cupith later. It was their weakness. Cupith was the smallest dragon, fully grown, at the Weyr. Where she was agile and quick, her body was unable to last in Threadfall as long as a normal sized green.

Maybe because of the training she would be able to hang in there a bit longer. Vaylee was making up for this lack of endurance by training in Dragon Healing. After being rotated out, Vaylee would wait for injured dragons to come in. Cupith could calm the dragons and Vaylee the riders while patching the dragons up.

It was completely off topic, her thoughts on Cupith but she often felt the green was being left out of things because of her size. Trelia is a nice girl. She should impress. One could never be sure if Cupith was really suited for Searching or I she generally just wanted nice people to impress dragons so Vaylee took her assessment with a grain of salt.

[freya]

Trelia stood on the sands lost in her own thoughts and jumped when she heard a voice. When she turned around to see a young blonde woman standing behind her and then remebered that she'd been asked a question. "I'm sorry," said Trelia as she realized that this was a rider judging by her riding leathers and that she might be in trouble for being here. "I'll leave," said Trelia as she started to walk past the woman because she didn't want to get in trouble this close to the queens laying their eggs. If a candidate got into trouble then they might not stand for the next hatching as it had happened before.

She was almost nerviously walking as she went to get past the young woman without getting into trouble. Trelia had great respect for the riders and even if they we're not high ranking she usually did as she was told. The young woman would not risk her chance of standing on the sands with coming out here just to walk around and think. It was no doubt that the sands would be guarded now that the queens had risen and no one would get close to the sands anymore till after the hatching. "I'm really sorry," said Trelia as she just wanted to get out of the hatching grounds before the rider gave her a punishment.

The last time that she has snuck out with some of the girls the young woman had ended up cleaning up after every meal down in the lower caverns for a month. She was not going to let that happen again as she said, "I'm so sorry rider," as she hoped to get out of the hatching grounds without a punishment being handed out. Trelia couldn't have her chances of impressing a dragon ruined just because she had been stupid enough to come out here. She berated herself for even thinking about coming out here when she should have stayed in the barracks where she belonged. If her breathing was any sign it showed that the woman was very nervous about being punished.

[HG]

((sorry for the blah post))

The reaction of the young woman was not what Vaylee was expecting. Generally people were at ease around the greenrider. Why was the girl sorry? Trelia. Thank you, lovey but I don’t think knowing the girl’s name is going to help. The interruption left her standing on the Sands watching the girl make several apologies before she got the chance to call out to her. “You do not have to leave.” Vaylee said loudly hoping her voice would carry across the Caverns.

“Would you like to help me with something? I can inform the Candidate Master of your assistance.” Helping dragonriders was always looked on as a good thing. It would certainly help her when it came time to judge whether people would be allowed to Stand or not. Vaylee did not think Trelia was the type to get into much trouble but it was still nice to have good recommendations on one’s record. Besides she really did not want to do this job on her own. The Cavern was huge!

Hopefully the girl would say yes and she wouldn’t have to do this alone. Vaylee watched the girl, having not left the spot where she was standing since Trelia said she was leaving. The Cavern was quiet now. Time seemed to stand still as she waited for the reply from the other girl. Vaylee, not for the first time, came to the conclusion she did not like to be alone.

[freya]

Trelia turned when she heard the young woman speak and looked at her for a moment while she mauled over the question. The young woman figured that there was nothing else to do and it would be good to spend sometime outside hopefully actually accomplishing something. She had been doing the same mundance chores everyday just waiting for the queens to rise and to lay eggs on the sands. A hope inside of chest was that in one of those eggs would be her lifemate because she did not think that it was possible to wait another whole turn to impress. The queens seemed to only rise once a turn and that meet only one small clutch of eggs which limited her chances.

"How can I help," asked Trelia as she walked to stand infront of the woman and await orders? Trelia was good at taking orders from others and waited for the dragon rider to give her a command. The young candidate sized up the dragon rider who seemed to be rather young like herself. She seemed only a few turns older then Trelia which made her smile because every girl that impressed gave hope to Trelia. When she thought about it the help was either to clean off the sands or something to that nature. It didn't really bother Trelia with what ever it happened to be because it meet making the sands better for the queens who could most likely lay her lifemate.

(That's fine)

[HG]

Patience was a virtue that Vaylee had plenty of. While the girl took her time mulling things over, the rider began to scan the Hatching Cavern with her eyes. Nothing huge stuck out to her. Thank goodness for that. Hopefully this task would not be as tedious as it first seemed. The Caverns had been cleaned after the Holdless attack and after the theft of Orlai's clutch.

A smile crept slowly onto the blonde's face, "Wonderful. It is my task as a dragon healer to be sure the Cavern is safe for the upcoming clutches. So what I need you to do is help look for anything on the Sand that could hurt the Queens or their eggs. If you see anything that you unsure about, just assume its bad." Now to divvy up who would take what end of the Cavern. "How abuot you do the area closer to the Stands and I'll look farther out?" She suggested. "Thank you, Trelia." She added as she realized she had not properly responded to the girl's agreement to help.

Cupith's mental purr was enough to make Vaylee shake her head. Now that her rider would not have to be alone, she felt more at ease. Trelia is a nice girl. I do hope she impresses soon.
If only it were all the nice ones who impressed. Unfortunately one never knows who is best for the dragonets except the dragonets themselves.
More of them need to be like me and choose nice girls. Vaylee smiled, Not all dragons could be like you sweetheart. Then we'd love the Holdless to death.
We have not tried that yet.Cupith added, sweetly.

[freya]

Trelia listened to the young woman speak and nodded her head as the order was given. She stared towards the stands and looked at the grounds. The ground seemed particularly clean as they we're cleaned after each hatching and she slowly walked around starting closest with the stands. While her eyes scanned the ground for anything and then stumbled upon what looked like a small piece of shell. It felt rough in her hands as she fingered it and smiled because soon enough there would be more eggs on the sands with shells just like that shard. "They've done a good job of keeping this area clean," said Trelia as she smiled at the rider.

She just desired a dragon of her own as the eyes drifted over the sands. Her mind thought of the countless clutches that had hatched over the turns in this same spot. Trelia sighed as the sweat on her brow seemed to come down in her eyes and she took her hands across to wipe it away. While she kept walking across the sands as her boots pushed some of the sands away to make sure there was nothing underneath that might hurt the queens. She wanted to make the sands very comfortable for the queens to have the most successful hatching possible.

Her eyes went to the rider who seemed to be searching the sands and thought about what it must be like to be a rider. Trelia made herself a promise a long time ago that she would ride a dragon one day. It had been this time a turn before when she'd be disappointed and hoped that it would not happen again.The candidate continued to kick the sands and soon hit something rough where her hand went to dig around for a second. It was another shard of a egg and she just let her hand roam over the rough texture then continued to search the sands.

[HG]

Even though she thought the sands were quite clean as they had been after the last Hatching, subsequent invasion and then the flitter hatching, it seemed there were still things left behind. She picked up part of an egg shell carefully. Now that could hurt a dragon or the soft shells of the eggs before they hardened on the Sands. The shard was no bigger than her hand however to her mind it meant other pieces might be out there. She felt more purpose in scouring every inch of sand now.

Trelia seemed to be finding nothing where she was walking. “Good. That’s what we want. To find nothing, then we know everyone else is doing their job.” She said kindly. The drudges and others who cleaned in here would easily have missed the half buried shell she had found. It was sitting in such a fashion it would be very easy not to notice when there were tons of egg shells to pick up and other messes to clean. Thus far though it seemed that would be the only piece they missed.

“So, you looking forward to the upcoming clutches?” She asked, knowing the answer for most Candidates was the same. They could not wait till Hatching Day. Not that she blamed them but she did not recall being as excited as some of the others. She was quite nervous about it come to think of it. Being rejected would have been more heart breaking than she dared to think about. While the Queen had mauled her she had still impressed to Cupith which had made up for the lasting scars and slight tilt to her walk.

[freya]

Trelia turned to smile at the dragon rider then said, "I'm looking forward to the clutches and hope there's a dragon in there for me,". She held hope that inside one of those eggs to be laid was a life mate for her and that she wouldn't be left standing. It was the same thought that all the other candidates seemed to have these days. The young woman continued to search the sands with her eyes for anything that was littering the ground. When she couldn't find anything else the young woman went to stand closer to the green dragon rider. "I bet it is wonderful to soar above the clouds and forget all about this," said Trelia as her eyes we're glassy with dreamy thoughts.

She wasn't one to day dream and yet there she was with the thoughts swimming in her head. Trelia couldn't wait to fly on a dragon and hoped that the eggs would come soon. If the queen took longer to lay the eggs maybe there would be a larger clutch of eggs. A thought that meant her think that the chance of impressing a egg would be greater with it taking so long. "I hope that there are large clutches on the sands because I fear aging out and never impressing," said Trelia as she looked at the rider. A fear that was common among the candidates as she had talked to another candidate the other day. If she aged out never impressing the young woman couldn't imagine what she would do next most likely return home.

[HG]

Vaylee was listening but not looking at the girl. She was using her eyes to scan the sands. The tone of the brunette's voice indicated a wistfulness which Vaylee had not experienced as much when she was about to Stand. She had been a little more nervous about the possibility of death. Although thoughts of possible rejection also made her nervous. Vaylee knew there had been very little going for her when she stood. At least Trelia had been Searched. Vaylee stood because she was from the Weyr and her sister and friends convinced her it could not hurt to try. All of her siblings who impressed, half siblings included, rode green at this point. She wondered if her other half siblings thought they were destined for greens no matter what their personality? No one but they could know that and she never understood why greens held so little value to people. She was proud of Cupith and would flaunt the fact she was a greenrider when she could. There were plenty of people without dragons who were beneath her rank because a dragonrider was a dragonrider no matter the color of the dragon's hide.

Trelia seemed to be thinking that way too. She just wanted a dragon before her age caught up with her destiny. Vaylee knew that was often a concern for Candidates. As Cupith would say, the dragonets know and not even the Searchdragons can know who is perfect for a particular dragon. Vaylee was too kind to mention that some people did not impress even when it was their life dream. "I'm sure there will be a dragon for you, even if its not the dragon you expect it to be." She had thought she would die on the Sands herself. Rhiannoth had mauled her pretty good though she was still conscious when Cupith sought her out. "Cupith would say you should go into the Sands confident that one of the dragons is for you and not worry because if your dragon is out there, she or he will find you." She felt pretty silly about watching the dragonets, scanning to see if one would come for her. The fact was, when she was not looking to impress, she found her lifemate was there.

"Do you have any interests other than dragonriding? I'm not suggesting you will not impress but its always comforting to have a back up plan." She had healing to fall back on when she was Standing and now that Cupith's calming nature on the other dragons had become known, she was learning dragon healing. Vaylee was not the quickest to pick up new things but she did work hard at her dragon healing with so many threats to dragons out there she needed to learn as much as she could as fast as she could. Regrettably there were plenty of people who were quick to learn things but didn't have her steady hands or her way with other people and dragons. There was just something about her and Cupith that set both riders and their injured or sick dragons at ease. At this point she had walked halfway across the Sands, nothing more was spotted thus far. The Sands should be ready for the Clutches.

[freya]

Trelia listened to Vaylee as she talked about being confident and then asked if she had any other interests. She turned to Vaylee with a sad smile then said, "I'll most likely return home to my family because I miss them greatly and if I don't have a dragon to be bonded to well,". The young woman kicked the sands with her foot and watched as it fell down again. "I think it's clean enough now," said Trelia as she folded her arms to look at her. A thought that she didn't want to think about was finding something else to do if she didn't impress. Her family would no doubt welcome her home with open arms and would arrange a marriage for her.

She had come to the conclusion that either as a dragon rider or a wife there we're children in her future. When she passed children in the weyr halls there was always a smile on her face and even when they we're in distress she smiled at them. "We did a good enough job," said Trelia as she was ready to leave and the hot sun was making her sweat. It was apparent that Trelia had a way about her that when she was done talking about a something either she would shut down or change the subject.

Her focus turned towards the setting sun and realized that it was becoming the end of the day. "I hope the queens lay their eggs soon," said Trelia as she smiled at her and then waved good-bye to avoid anymore unpleasant conversation. Trelia was defiantly done with the hard labor for the day and unpleasant conversation. It was a thought that she didn't like to think about and then walked towards the weyrhall to get something to eat.