The mind of a Wingleader (open)

[HG]

Options, he had many of them. D'seus, Wingleader of Shadow and possibly (if all went according to his five turn plan) future Weyrleader, had his fair share of options tonight. He could go back to his weyr alone, where his Bronze was sleeping soundly. He might go play dragon poker with some of the wingriders and get wasted. He nixed that on the account that they had a practice at dawn.

Or perhaps he could charm his way into some woman's bed. Lovely, wonderful women, who were very very enticing even at this time in the evening. As much as the option appealed to him, women were rather demanding and took much concentration and effort. Both of which he lacked at the moment. Besides he had to be focused on one woman, the Queen would soon rise.

The wing was on his mind even more than it had right to be with the Queen being the most important thing to concern himself with. A somewhat brooding look came to the handsome man's face. His fingers rubbed his chin while he thought. There was no help for it that formation would not get out of his head! So it was that the Shadow Wingleader walked to the Records room in the middle of the night.

He was not surprised to find no one there. In fact he often preferred that when he was thinking up new things. Although he spent more than one evening a week awake and unable to sleep he generally chalked it up to having a busy mind. He used to sleep better when he had less responsibilities. Something he faintly remembers as if it was seen and not lived through. The record he was reading was old but well preserved.

Thread was the main enemy even if the North had forgotten, Dragonriders had a duty to Pern to keep it safe from destruction. This he believed with every part of his being. As much as he studied wing formations it was no surprise that he came up with variations of his own which his wing practiced.

Sighing heavily, like a man who should be sleeping and felt tired but simply could not achieve it, he stretched his muscular arms back behind his head and crossed his arms. After leaning back in the chair he said out loud seemingly to no one. "The day will come." He scanned the record again this one was about Threadfall and timelines. There was no record of an interval this long but there was a first time for everything wasn't there?

[Marnark]

It was promising to be a long night. A'lez was ready for bed, but there was too much to do yet. He'd delegated as much of the work as he could to whomever he could. It was something he'd learned early on, after getting assigned a wing; don't try to shoulder it all. It was a fast way to burn out.

But there was still a lot to do. So with a big yawn and a huge mug of klah, he was padding down the halls in his bare feet. There were a few things that he needed some records for to finish up, and thus his path found him walking into the Archives. Where he couldn't help but notice D'seus abusing a chair by stretching in it. Wandering over, he knuckled the top of the other man's head good-naturedly.

"What are you doing up this late, eh?" He asked, walking on to another chair. Dragging it out, he settled into it comfortably, setting the mug of warm klah down on the table before him before flexing the cramps out of that hand. It was heavy, and he'd been carrying it the whole way on just a few fingers.

Reaching forward with his other hand, he flipped a few parchments over, eyes quickly scanning over what was on them. A'lez grunted, noting what the other wingleader was researching. "I know everyone's worried, but are you that worried? To stay up all night reading the same records over and over?" He asked, looking over at the other bronze rider with raised brows. Did D'seus know something he didn't?

[HG]

His focus was not all that great at the moment. When A'lez entered he smiled. The other Wingleader was a good friend and although the wings had a rivalry it was a brotherly type rivalry. "Oh you know me, I can not sleep when I have things on my mind. Klah looks good, should have brought my own huh?" He spoke good naturedly although apparently it was still obvious that he was thinking too much. What did he have on his mind exactly?

At the moment everything seemed jumbled. He was going to many different directions at once. That was why it was becoming harder to focus. "Not more than usual. Anxious I guess for Aeriath to rise. Zorometh is quite adamant that she's close to rising. " Hopefully the other Bronzes concurred on this. Zor had never been wrong but he had to doubt the Queen would ever rise.

It had been over three Turns. A long time for a Gold in her prime. Somehow he wondered if the Queens were affected by living in the South. Records reported that close to Threadfall the Gold's laid large clutches and rose more frequently. He ran his hand over his light hair. Oh the things on his mind!

"We need Aeriath to produce a Gold this time. I know both of our Bronzes are in better shape than before and the your Wingsecond's Bronze, though young, ought to give us some competition. Not sure about Lucairth but I'm sure he'll be flight ready too. I just hope Aeriath is prepared to fly as high and far as we need her to. No more paltry clutches coming every few Turns." It was really unheard of for this to happen in the records they had taken from the North.

There was nothing wrong with discussing the future of Refuge, although Haven did not fair any better. "I'm half tempted to raid the North for Candidates..." He smiled at the absurdity of his idea. "The lack of new blood sure is not helping matters." For all he knew it was making things worse. His gray eyes scanned the other man's reactions to what was being said.

[Marnark]

A'lez looked at D'seus for a moment, and then at his mug. He considered it for a moment, then reached over to move the mug further away from D'seus. True, his first inclination had been to share it with the other man. But if he gave away his klah, what was he going to keep himself awake? And D'seus was already having trouble with sleeping. Of course, all this was obvious and didn't need stating. He also didn't need to move the mug, really, but he did anyway ... mostly to poke playful fun at the other wingleader, than out of any real greed. "You'd think by now you'd have the foresight that required." He remarked, with a lopsided grin that said he was, again, still teasing.

"Aeriath." A'lez repeated, slowly, as if tasting the name. And then he blew a slow sigh. "A blessing and a curse, that." He answered, dropping the parchments back on the table. "We need the dragons that will bring, but as you say ... we need new blood to ride them. We're stagnate, the whole lot of us, and it's starting to tell. But I think Zorometh is right. Because Nienoth is acting similarly. I didn't know it was possible, but he's being even more of an ass when it comes to his appearance, and he's spending a lot of time where she can see him if she looks his way." Of course, the bronze was oogling the gold, but only when she wasn't looking. When she happened to look his way, he was most astutely not looking in her direction. The twerp. Sometimes A'lez wished he could kick him off the ledges and watch him splat at the bottom.

A'lez fiddled with the edge of the top parchment for a moment, thoughtfully, before shrugging. "We don't really have any suitable girls for a new gold. I haven't seen much in the way of leadership skills among most of them. You know who ever impresses the a new Gold will be our next Weyrwoman." He looked over at D'seus again, before shrugging. "Which takes us back to square one, along with any possibility of a new clutch or a big clutch."

"The clutches coming few and far between is a weight off my mind, though." A'lez pointed out. "If they were coming fast and thick, we'd be up shit creek. Not only would we not have people to ride them all, or beasts to feed them all, but it would mean thread was coming back. We don't need that. We're not ready." A'lez sighed, again, tiredly. "None of Pern is ready."

The notion of raiding the north for people stirred A'lez out of his tired half-hearted ruminations, though, startling him into sitting upright. "Are you out of your mind, D'seus? Do you have any kind of idea what kind of shitstorm that would start? No. We can't do that. It's not even considerable." Shaking his head sternly, A'lez slumped back to leaning on the back of the chair he was parked in. "That would piss them off so badly we couldn't keep them off our doors." Things were already bad enough with the North having banished everyone who was now living here in the South. Granted, many many generations ago. But Holders were a hidebound lot, and A'lez was not under any illusions as to whether or not matters had changed or not. Thread had not fallen. Things were peachy. Holders were not going to want anything to do with Dragonriders. D'seus' talk, however, A'lez feared that was going to start some nasty things. They had enough troubles already without going and stirring up the ants.

[HG]

Nodding he said, “Yeah, though klah is probably the last thing I need this late in the evening.” D'seus tried not to sound too serious. He enjoyed speaking with other people when he was in the mood. Right now though it was hard to remain light on the subjects that pressed the Weyr. A'lez seemed more content with the status quo than he was. The other Wingleader was not the only one at the Weyr who felt that way. So he thought Thread was not returning any time soon. It was not like that was uncommon but for some strange reason D'seus felt his hair stand on end when anyone mentioned thread. He believed the North would be seeing Threadfall sooner than later though he had no real proof to back him up other than Zorometh's constant reminders that Thread would fall.

Deciding it would be better to pay attention to go off on inner tangents, he listened well to what the other was saying. He had a point but the truth of the matter was new blood or not, the more dragons the better. Even if they had to take promising crafters and make them Candidates. Well that would be what they had to do. He'd rather have to worry about having enough beasts to feed the dragons than have no new riders for Turns at a time. This was just a difference in opinion so to each his own he thought. Briefly he wondered what Raelwyn though about all of this. He was not about to insult the woman by asking about such sensitive issues.

He breathed slowly and deeply. All of this talk about the Weyr's problems made him wish he weren't a Bronzerider. A blue or green rider had the luxury of not having to solve these problems. He was happy that A'lez took his position as seriously as D'seus. They were closest in age of the Bronzeriders and it was more likely that Nienoth or Zorometh would catch the Gold. “I'm thinking we could start searching the outer cotholds after the flight. Just to see if there is anyone at all that could be a Candidate. Besides it would give the Search dragons something to do.”

Mmmm, well that was a rather strong reaction to something that he had not been serious about. It might someday come to Searching the North but he would never just steal people. Really? The other man thought he had the propensity for something of that nature? He might have a thought about it but thinking something and doing something were very different to him. As amusing as carrying screaming young people to the South would be he would never do that. Not unless expressly asked to be the North. “I was not serious about it.” He spoke calmly as if the other's reaction was nothing to be concerned about.

“If Thread falls in the North we will have a lot of questions to face. A lot of problems to solve as if living here did not present enough of them. Dragonriders die so young here, all the dueling and personal rivalries... its almost as well we aren't near the belligerent Northerners in this time of inaction.” D'sues looked back down at the record which was not really giving him any of the answers he needed. Again he stroked his chin in thought where a scruff of light hair had formed over the long day. His own father, a dragonrider, died in a training accident which were overly common as well. If they didn't die killing eachother, or in accidents, they easily succumbed to the numerous illnesses in the South.

[Marnark]

A'lez pinched his upper lip for a moment in thought, before picking up his klah and taking a sip of it. He needed to stay awake ... he couldn't do this if he was half asleep. Now, either he was half dozing so badly that he wasn't hearing anything that D'seus was saying, or the other Bronzerider wasn't saying anything. Either way, it was kind of awkward. A moment for thought, though. Scratching one ear, A'lez grimaced a bit. "Yeah, I guess that's a good plan. Leave them to their work as long as possible, and then bring in the new candidates. I think I have a few dragons on my wing who can act as Searchdragons if they put their mind to it. Get as many out there searching as we can. Given the circumstances, we have no idea how big of a clutch Aeriath is going to lay this time around."

Who knew, maybe D'seus was right and this was the start of things. Clutches might start coming thick and fast after this. One never knew what the future held in store. At the statement that he hadn't been serious about raiding the north for candidates, A'lez grunted and smiled slightly. "Heh." He was tired, that was it. Chalk up the misunderstandings to that, yep. Normally, he could pick out when people were yanking his leg. He must be tireder than he thought!

"If thread falls in the north, my friend, we won't have a lot of questions to face. There won't be much left of the North. Not only are there a lot of people there with no dragons, but they're not grubbed either." Thread in the north would be devastating. Completely and utterly devastating. But, he had to agree ... being as inactive as they were for as long as they were, it was good that Holders were buffered from the shenanigans of young Riders.

That was also part of their problem. As few dragons as they had, so many of them were too young. If thread fell in the south they were going to be up shit creek. Even tradition wasn't going to be enough to get them in shape for Thread. A'lez was under no disillusions; they were going to lose a lot of dragons whenever First Fall came around.

[HG]

As usual A'lez had a point. D'seus met the other man's eyes for a moment as he spoke, “I know of a few in my wing too. We should coordinate later so that they can Search different areas.” He was in agreement. There were a couple he could even think of off the top of his head, blue Reinth for one. His rider had a good head on his shoulders too. There was another bluerider but he may just have H'seo lead this little Search for Shadow Wing. D'seus looked back down at the record in his hands.

The nice thing about the Weyr being small was that the Bronzeriders had no choice but to be involved. They did not have the option of resting easy like the blue and green riders. Although not all of them were of the same opinions they all had to have one. He was kind of glad that they were mostly on the same page lately. Less fighting and seperation was better for the Weyr in the long run, even if that meant he had to keep his rather competitive side under a tight leash. There was only one thing he could get competitive over at the moment and that had everything to do with the Goldrider.

Fall was not the best topic to discuss this close to a Queen rising but D'seus had his thoughts and his reservations about what could happen and how soon. Whether he shared these with other people or not mattered little as the thoughts would still plague him until he had done everything he could. Although the Northerners did deserve whatever punishment Thread gave them. “I'd not worry too much about the North. They have made it abundantly clear they want no help from us. Besides we would have to protect the South first and we don't have enough people to even do that effectively.” He did not even want to think about the amount of foliage in the South. How did one protect such a massive rainforest?

No Record would be able to help them with Threadfall in the South. Who knew if it even happened on the Southern Continent? Not for the first time, D'seus felt himself full of questions but without the answers or solutions. It was so much easier to pin point problems than it was to fix them. “What brings you here? I thought normal people slept at night.” He smiled warmly and placed the record he was holding back on the table.

[Marnark]

A'lez nodded simply in answer to the suggestion that they should coordinate the searches. It only made sense... no point in covering the same ground ten times over. All it would do would be to irritate the locals. And not garner any extra Candidates at all. Unless the riders took to kidnapping kids just to make the cut. Which A'lez was not of a mind to tolerate. They might be on hard times, but times were most assuredly not that hard. He started to make a comment, but ended up trying to stifle a yawn instead, as it completely garbled what he was trying to say. Blinking, he rubbed one eye and shrugged. "We should also take a more discerning look at our Weyrbrats." He suggested, again, this time clearly. "Maybe there are a few diamonds in the rough."

Ack. "We don't have enough people, we don't have enough dragons." A'lez agreed. "I guess all we can do is guard what we can, and to the Red Star with the rest of it. No point in worrying about something we can't do a sharding thing about." It was a melodramatic and pessimistic way to look at things, but it was how he'd gotten through many obstacles in his life. Just take care of his corner and let the rest take care of itself. After all, once he'd given his all, all he had was given. There was no more. Wrinkling his nose up, he scratched the side of it idly, before his gaze flicked over to D'seus again.

"Me? I do normally sleep at these hours. But I wasn't done for the day. Faranth it's been a long one. I needed some information from the records on something I was working on ... something ... something I forgot. I don't remember what I need, or even what I was working on at the time." A'lez realized. "I must be tireder than I thought. That or you're more distracting of late than you used to be." He laughed, poking fun at the other rider.

"That or I'm practicing not being normal anymore. Kind of like you, hey?"

[HG]

“Mm, yes, the Weyrbrats should be looked into as well. See if anyone is above and beyond. Although I'm willing to let all brats stand for the Hatching if you are. Something that we should probably discuss with our dear Weyrwoman of course. “ He added thinking she would probably not be happy that they came to a decision about her Hatching without her being present. D'seus could well imagine that there would be nothing left of either of their brains but mush. On that note he was not entirely sure what to say to A'lez about their predicament.

Quite probably he should be keeping his mouth shut. HAH! Like that was going to happen any time soon. A thought came to him then, “We could always breed another Gold and start using our dragons to intimidate the Holders. Not harm anyone of course but threatening them would certainly be okay. If only we had some leverage on the North.” Now he knew it was not the best idea in the world but they were going to need food and goods if they were going to expand the population. Not to mention new blood for Candidates. They needed to persuade the North to be diplomatic with them. Now was not the time though. Waiting until they had a second Gold and more wingriders was the right thing to do.

“Wouldn't want that to happen to you A'lez. You are too good of a person to be turning into me. Perhaps I can assist you so that you can turn in.” D'seus would be the one offering to do work at this candlemark. There were other things he could be doing. When had he become so damned depressing? D'seus thought back on his options. Right now he was facing a night up with a fellow Bronzerider doing work.

Again he looked across the table at the klah. Thats not what he needed but perhaps some water to refresh him and pull him out of his mental state of idiocy. Why was he here at all? He should have gone for spending the night with a woman...a beautiful, sweet, cheerful type would have helped him forget all of this craziness. Not forever of course but long enough for him to have a good time and relax and quite possibly sleep. A'lez and whatever he needed to finish tonight were not going to help him sleep.

[Marnark]

"Oh, for Faranth's sake, D'seus." A'lez remarked, finally, grabbing up the cup of klah and plopping it down in front of the other Bronzerider. "Have some, before you have a heart attack on me. You keep looking at it like that and you're going to break my heart to tiny bits." What in the world was going through D'seus' mind, A'lez could not say. But it certainly was not what was supposed to be going through his mind.

"I concur. Plans like that should be at least run by her, if not expressly laid before her as options for her to think on and decide, rather than us strong arming things in such a way." A'lez answered, with a nod. But then he fell still and silent for a moment, just staring at D'seus almost expressionless for a moment. "I thought you said you weren't serious about that." He answered. "Intimidating the North isn't going to get us anywhere, and I think you know it." A'lez grabbed the klah again, and moved it away again, before D'seus could grab it. "I think you need to go to bed, my friend, and spend a few days there. You are not thinking right." Well ... on one thing he was. A'lez agreed - he didn't want to be like D'seus. Not if D'seus was going to start talking rubbish like that!

A'lez contemplated taking this new issue to the Weyrwoman, maybe warn her a bit, get her council on how to straighten the erring rider out before things got dangerous. "We do need a second Gold. But not for those reasons." Simply because, with one, all it would take was one accident and the world would be doomed, so far as dragons went.

[HG]

The Shadow Wingleader watched A'lez move the klah towards him and take back the klah which he had not wanted in the first place. Klah was not a good idea for him most of the time. At first he smiled at A'lez' outburst. D'seus might be completely out of his mind but he'd prefer that to being uninventive and hide bound. Not that it was bad to be either one.

If A'lez were the same as he was there would be no need for discussion and discussion really did help open and close doors as far as exploring what the Weyr was capable of doing and what it was not capable of was concerned. He preferred to think aloud and while his thoughts obviously bothered the other Wingleader he figured that they would also get him thinking about the future as he saw it not as D'seus did.

He raised an eyebrow as the other man talked to him angrily. “I assume you know the difference between thinking things and actually doing them. I have not done anything that you are getting worked up over nor am I tired.” The Bronzerider was in no mood for A'lez now. If the man was going to talk down to him than he had no use for talking. It was like D'seus to easily go from being charming and gregarious to being cold and reserved so it would be no surprise to the other when the switch just flipped in D'seus' mind.

“You however probably need sleep. Goodnight A'lez.” He said and got out of his chair. Walking to a different section of the Records Room. He was in search of something older than the one he had been looking at. Much older if he could find one. The older ones were often in better condition than the newer. Something about how they bound records kept them nicer for much longer. Now was not the time to worry about how and why as far as the Records went though.

He needed a question solved or he would not be able to sleep at all. He would talk to Raelwyn about all these things he researched in time. They were of no concern to the other Wingleader until the Weyrwoman heard something about it. First he needed the information that could back him up which was increasingly more difficult to find.

[Marnark]

A'lez heaved a weary sigh. "Thoughts lead to words, which lead to actions, and you sharding well know it." He answered calmly. He'd never raised his voice once, and while he was certainly perturbed at the things coming out of the other Wingleader, he hadn't done anything to make D'seus think he was worked up. He was too tired to be worked up over anything.

However, the notion of turning in for the night sounded like a good one. The next day was going to be just as long and just as duty filled. One of these days he was going to have to take a day off, to just relax. Maybe hold a conversation with someone that didn't involve work. Or something. Not that there was really time for that kind of nonsense, but there wasn't time for him to get run down and sick either. A day of rest would often prevent a week of illness.

"You better not stay up too late yourself, D'seus." A'lez called. "You have no idea the things you say when you're staggering around deliriously." He prodded, in full jest, even as he shoved his chair back and got to his feet. For a moment he stood stiff, stretching a few muscles without being expansive about it. "Give the Weyrwoman my regards." He said, before picking up his klah and heading out the door.

It was no secret; even A'lez knew that D'seus had his eye on the Weyrwoman. It was also highly likely that D'seus would see her before A'lez did. While A'lez had a soft spot for the woman, he didn't have the slightest bit of problem with D'seus pursuing her.