In the cool quiet places (open)

[HG]

Eve lay across the red headed woman's shoulders even as she sat on the Sands of the Hatching Grounds. They were cool to the touch at this time and so Kyrah was laying on her stomach, elbows holding up her upper body. "Alright Eve, off." The red head said sternly so the Firelizard would understood as she combined the word with an image of the Gold flying to the stands. She stood slowly, her limber form as agile as a feline. Taking her belt off of her waist she seemed to be facing some unseen adversary. She was supposed to be taking the day to enjoy herself. Little did everyone know that this was Kyrah enjoying herself.

She took a knife out of each of her southern style boots and threw them at this imaginary adversary then reached down her back for her sword. The weight of this sword would have made anyone tired after a little use. Wearing herself out was part of the purpose. She began with simple fluid motions and moved on to more complex maneuvers. The Gold Firelizard watched with whirling blue eyes. Kyrah was in her element here, away from the other people of the Weyr. With each motion, she felt more strain.

Kyrah made swordplay look easy and right now, more like a dance than a form of combat. Her mother had tried desperately to persuade her earlier that morning to wear a dress which once again, Kyrah refused. She wore instead what she always did, even her short hair seemed to offend the woman who gave birth to her. Perhaps her mother would have understood her if she were born a man instead of a woman.

Uncle Kylen had given her a new pouch this morning as a gift for Eve. She had turned 2 this morning and was quite pleased with it. The pouch was to hold Eve's treats when training. Something that Kyrah spent her spare time doing was really training the Gold. They needed to know what the Gold's limits were. In any case she felt quite comforted by her uncles acceptance that she was not a girl who wore dresses, seduced dragonriders or spent their time gossiping. She was quite different and much more focused on her occupation.

As she brought the sword down in what looked like a final blow she made a grunt. That took more energy than she had anticipated. Gritting her teeth she placed the sword back where it had been and pick up her knives. This time she pulled out her most favorite weapon. The long bow was made of a dark wood and matched her skill with its nearly flawless make.

"Breathe, Kyrah." She remembered her uncle saying to her as she pulled the string back towards her ear. The shot flew clear across the large cavern, hitting the wall and making a dinging sound echo throughout. Ky ran and without thinking let the words that she was thinking slip out. "Shell it. Someone is bound to hear that..." Her slender light hand picked the arrow up as she motioned for Eve to fly to her.

[Marnark]

Time to be still, and reflect. Think. Center one's self. It made for better speed, better acute awareness of one's surroundings. Practice listening. Some people thought it was absolutely absurd, the whole thing. Jarshan knew she needed the moment still as much as she needed to move.

So she sat, dressed in a loose, sleeveless shirt that had a rather low neckline. Loose trousers covered her legs and her feet were bare. Reposed in complete stillness, she sat in the stands, feet crossed far out in front of her, propped on the next seat row down, arms crossed over her chest as her chin made a divot in her chest.

The sounds of someone talking in low tones down on the sands didn't disturb her in the least. Or the faint rustle of wing-sails. By far too small to be even a young dragon. Without even having to think about it she knew it was a flitter. She had one herself, after all. He was not with her, but her tunnelcat was. Draped around her neck like a fur collar, the black furry creature was sleeping soundly with his nose on forepaws, tail dribbling down her chest.

The sound of feet shifting across the sand, grunts of exertion, these too were listened too, but otherwise considered impassively. The all familliar twang of a bowstring and the thunk of the arrow hitting less than a heartbeat later, however, that had Jarshan on her feet in a flash, eyes open, scanning the chamber before her. The tunnel cat squeaked in alarm and flashed down her side to vanish into the shadows.

It only took a moment for her gaze to land firmly upon Kyrah. Upon which her lines softened again from battle-ready alarm. A small smile touched her lips. "The wall moving too fast for you, Ky?" She called, teasing.

[HG]

Shells, shards and flame it all! Her eyes darted as she continued to run. That was until the voice of the other woman drifted over to her. Immediately she calmed down. Jarshan was a woman of the Shield much like herself though older and more experienced. Probably much better than Kyrah at the swordplay she had been attempting. Thats why Ky was paired with Eriol though, she was more of the ranged weapon type, he was better at close combat. That and as he said, she caused a lot of trouble. This was a prime example.

"Oh, um, no not the wall. I was expecting someone to come in after hearing the arrow hit the wall and be angry that I had been on the Sands without permission of the Weyrwoman. What brings you here?" Her feet shifted on the sand to a more comfortable stance. Everyone had their reasons and most of the Shield were rather secretive people. It was no wonder that they had both been seeking a place of solitude.

Out in the wilds they were with only one other person making certain that no harm was falling on the poor cotholders and workers outside the Weyr. They spent little time in with the normal Weyr population. Some of the Shield had a better time adjusting to the crowds than others. Kyrah knew that she and Jarshan were two that preferred not to be around tons of people.

Eve landed on her shoulder then, her eyes were still blue as she looked at Jarshan. "I'm practicing some training with little Eve here later. She has been starting to associate some words with actions through images. Its very interesting. I think she's going to do great things for being just a flitter." Ky said of the Gold who, like all of the Shield's firelizards, was very well behaved.

[Marnark]

Jarshan stayed where she was, and when Kyrah turned to look up at her from where she was down on the sands, she lifted a dark brown and smiled ever so slightly. "Under normal circumstances, this is the quietest place in the Weyr. Ideal for reflection." She answered. Under normal circumstances ... unfortunately, nothing was ever anything remotely close to normal if there was a Shield member there. Much less two of them. But Jarshan also was not above teasing the youngster.

"My dear, your flitter will never be 'just a flitter'." Jarshan started, moving now, though slowly, down the steps, closer to the sands. Reaching the railing that separated spectators from the sands, she leaned on it with her elbows, hands dangling mid-air back toward herself. "She is a Gold, and Golds are never 'just flitters'." It went without saying. Golds were by far smarter, rivaled only by bronzes. It was one of the reasons why Jarshan herself had a bronze. The Shield needed smart, well trained flitters. Not some adle-headed oh-a-shiny-thinged green that would never make it to her destination with her package. Smiling crookedly, Jarshan shrugged. "Besides. We never know what all they can really learn. We're taking them places they've never gone before, in making them part of our operation. People don't normally train their flitters the way we are." Indeed, no shiny pets these were. Jarshan herself was furthering Torc's training. He was as reliable a messenger as one could ask for... now she was grooming him to be a weapon, too. A small, fast, agile creature that could fly, was armed with teeth and talons, and could snap between in a heartbeat. That was worse than even the typical domestic feline. And a lot of people and creatures got completely owned by the domestic felines.

[HG]

Suddenly she felt bad about intruding on the other's solitude. Ky had not noticed the other woman as she had been so intent on what she had been doing. There was no malice though, in the other woman's voice. At least Jarshan was not the type to nag. Kyrah had had enough of that this morning from her mother. “This is normally a good place to find peace and quiet...” She agreed as the other woman began walking towards her. The red head gently scratched her tiny Gold's chin.

The truth of the matter was, Kyrah was concerned that there was too much pressure on Eve. If they failed to create a way to give the flits simple commands in case of some bad situations then that would be chalked up to the two of them being incapable not that it would be impossible to do. That was a lot of strain to put on a flit. Still she had accepted the Gold knowing what Eriol meant for her to do with it. Before the Gold had hatched she imagined it would be quite simple. Now though she understood why it was hard to train flitters. They did not understand verbal communication as well as pictorial.

Jarshan did have a point though, Golds were the most intelligent along with their Bronze counterparts. Most of the Sheild preferred Bronzes and Browns as they were less moody than female firelizards. That was the thing she had expected to be most difficult about Eve but the firelizard was rarely moody when it came time for training because of being treated every time she did something correctly and the queen almost always did something correctly. “I suspect she is more intelligent than she would ever let on. Though most of the dragons do not seem to think firelizards are at all intelligent.” At least that was the rumor as if she held much stock in rumors to begin with.

Ky ran her pale hand through her hair to push it out of her face. “It would benefit the reputation of firelizards if people did take the time to train them. They are menaces to the cooks when they aren't trained. Eve here is very well liked by the kitchen staff. They often save her some little treats when we're at the Weyr. In fact I'm thinking we should head there for some food. You are welcome to join us.”

[Marnark]

Jarshan nodded, simply. "That is one of the signs of intelligence. Manipulation to one's benifit. If she manages to make you think she's less smart than she really is, she can get away with more, see? And you really can't go by what a lot of dragons say. They're short on memory and long on ego." Jarshan shrugged. True, she wasn't exactly the most starry-eyed person when it came to dragons. Whether that came from having grown up among them, or from having been rejected by them, one never knew.

Maybe a little of both.

Jarshan laughed lightly. "They're menaces to more than cooks, but yes. I whole heartedly agree." She gestured at the bow. "What were you shooting at, that you didn't intend to hit the wall?"

[HG]

Kyrah laughed. "Oh I know, mother often tells me of the arrogance of dragonriders. I can only imagine their dragons are as well. Little do they care of the affairs or thoughts of these little beings.” She looked at her little Gold and smiled. Silly though they could be, there was nothing wrong with having a tolerance and affection for them. She had to agree with Jarshan though, who said dragons were the authority on firelizards.

A hand slid down the wood of the bow as the topic was brought up. There was a question that she had only a childish answer for. “Promise you will not laugh.” She gave the older woman a very serious look, though Ky's face was turning slightly more pink with each moment that passed. Oh she felt like such a child right now. Her voice came out a little weaker than usual as she said, “I was not aiming for anything at all.”

Taking a deep breath she added, “I was checking my range. I did not realize I would be able to get clear across the Cavern.” Which was quite a distance even for experts. “I mean to say, I've never been able to before.” She had not thought she could improve that skill. Others needed improving but her prowess with the bow was even hard to beat among the people in the Shield. Though they all had different talents.

[Marnark]

At the news of what Kyr had been aiming for ... or not aiming for, Jarshan took on a whole new expression. Both thoughtfulness and something else as well. "It is a good job you did that in here, then, instead of outside." She knew she didn't have to say anything to Kyr about the danger that could have posed to people ... Kyr was probably chastising herself about it enough already. That, and Jarshan was sharp enough to realize that was why Kyr had been on the sacred sands to begin with. Slipping down in a smooth, fluid motion, Jarshan was under the rail and dropping to both feet on the soft sands. Walking over, she offered a hand for the bow.

Mostly, she was curious what the draw weight on the bow was, that Kyr had not been able to make an arrow go across the cavern before. Jarshan did not spend much time analyzing the abilities of the general public with various and sundry tools. But she knew without a doubt she could not only get an arrow across the cavern with her bow, but also hit a decent target as well. Given her training, that target could also be moving. "May I?"

"The more you practice, the better your ability. The more you push your limits, the farther those limits become." She remarked, even though she was pretty sure Kyr already knew that. But there was no telling for sure ... Kyr was still pretty young. She had some talent on her, otherwise she wouldn't be in the Shield. But she had some things to learn, as well. And Jarshan was not so arrogant as to not be willing to teach.

[HG]

((so sorry this took me this long! Please don't take offense to Ky, she's rather hot tempered))

The woman was serious? That was a good shot. The Hatching Caverns were enormous and she thought shooting across the entire Cavern was not far enough. Anything further than that in the jungle and all she would be hitting were trees. Kyrah's fiery temper was likely to come out. She did not like being told she needed to refine her skills it made her angry. Red heads were known to have tempers and Ky was one of the worst when she let herself get angry. Reasoning with herself that it would upset her Queen if she let herself become to angry she gradually felt her face become less hot. The red in her face dimmed although she did not hand over her bow to the other woman.

Luckily for her, Eve suddenly fluttered on her shoulder moving herself around wildly, obviously upset by something. She could only imagine what was going through the firelizard's mind. Kyrah saw the images flash through her mind as quickly as words could be spoken. Her expression had changed drastically in just seconds, she went from embarrassed and angry to slightly annoyed and a bit nervous. Eriol. Ugh. “I have to go. Eriol is upset about something I've done or didn't do, or just something!” She said, shaking her head.

“Maybe we could practice together in the jungle. Its a bit more challenging and I think more fun!” The young woman smiled warmly. A smile few people outside of the Shield got to see though it was more due to their closeness than anything. Kyrah could have been close to the weavers or cooks and if she had been that smile would be their's but it was not. While she realized she had been rude to the other woman, she also knew that Jarshan would forgive her. Kyrah was known to be trouble and hot headed. On top of that she was young. One day she would know to control herself better. She waved once as she exited the Sands.

[Marnark]

Jarshan just watched the other Shield member in silence as her face went through a whole range of expressions, none of them really making any sense at all. The bow was also not offered over, so Jarshan ended up feeling a tad awkward for having asked to see it. Folding her arms across her chest instead of holding them out like a goober, she just waited for some sort of sense to be made of Kyrah.

Just as Kyrah's apparently very mobile face was starting to settle back down again, she started all a-flutter again, something about Eriol. "Alright. Don't keep him waiting." She answered, with a nod.

Fun. Shooting a bow, usually to kill ... should never be fun, child. But Jarshan did not say that as Kyrah made her way back toward the entrances. "In the jungle it is." Jarshan answered. As if she didn't already have her hands full ... but clearly Kyrah was going to need a bit of help. If nothing else in just controlling herself. At least, in the jungle there were few people or passers by to potentially get hurt.

Deciding that maybe she should go see Eriol herself sometime soon, Jarshan decided she had better wait. He was clearly busy with something else at the moment. Walking back toward the railing, she hefted herself back up onto the stone, ducking under the rail in a smooth, fluid motion. Walking in a smooth, graceful motion back up to where she had been seated before, Jarshan settled down right in her old place. One more glance about the cavern, and she closed her eyes again, descending into thought and listening to the world around her.