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| With trepidation, the Grecian features of Weyrling Jai turn upward, pale blue eyes astonished. Swooping and diving like an enormous firelizard, the exuberant Deiseath caroled her joy at her rider, a come-join-me note in her vocalization. Jai wrinkled her nose. �I�m not riding if you�re going to fly like that, Dei,� she said firmly, pushing the tinted flying goggles she had gotten from the Weyr Smith back up her diminutive nose. The midday sun�s glare lessened enough that she was no longer seeing spots before her eyes�although she�d be willing to swear that she could feel her unpigmented skin crisping like wherryflesh on a spit. <<Get th� straps ready, Jai, I�ll be there�n a minute!>> replied Deiseath at her usual breakneck speed, her mindvoice�s coloratura flavored with the zesty herdsman�s accent that sounded incongruous coming from the lanky, unfinished-looking green. Grimly, Jai set to work on the tangle of sueded leather and padded cloth, wincing as buckles scraped against already-scarred wherhide. Ever since Candidacy, she'd had trouble with the wretched, ever-tangling straps. At last she laid out the straightened straps, ready to gird her lifemate�s breadth. �Come /down/, Dei!� she said in her best parade-ground bellow, and the long-limbed green tipped her wings in acknowledgement. <<Coming, coming, coming,>> Deiseath burbled breathlessly, backwinging neatly down before her pale rider. Her chartreuse claws dug at the ground in excitement as the calm and ever-responsible Jai belted on the straps. Since Deiseath was already as tall at the shoulder as many of her blue siblings�though she had nothing near their mass�Jai was panting and sweating. �Sorry, Dei, I thought I was in better shape than that,� the ex-Guardswoman admitted, as Deiseath twitched with her inexhaustible energy. <<You haven�t used those muscles before, and I am very tall. Ienth says I look like a vtol when I fly,>> chattered the green, craning her neck around to look at herself, self-consciously. <<I don�t, do I?>> �I think Ienth meant that you can change /directions/ like a vtol, Deiseath. You�re perfect, you know. Give me a leg up, hey?� Hastily, Deiseath proffered her elbow, curling her expansive, jade-translucent wings next to her flank. <<There you are. Why do you think it�s like climbing a mountain?>> she asked suspiciously, voice shrill and uncertain. Jai grimaced; she had not meant for Deiseath to overhear that thought. �Because I brace against your shoulder and use the straps to �walk� up your side, just like in mountain-climbing.� <<I�m not a mountain, I�m a dragon,>> snorted Deiseath. <<You�re strapped. We�re going.>> With a wild cry, the green and her rider alit into the flawless summer sky. |
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| Deiseath was hatched at Dawn Sisters Weyr. |