Blue is the older and louder of this pair of sisters. She is 20 years old, as Sabina turns 18. Both sisters are well aware of their heritage as riders' children. Their mother Deena rides blue Myath, their father is brown Kasth's rider S'bin. Though both riders are on fighting dragons, and even in the same wing, once both were crafters. Deena is pleased that Blue is talented with her hands and mind, as she is an amateur computerer. Sabina has always taken to watching people and recording behaviors, somewhere between a records-keeper and a psychologist. Though she often uses her talents for personal use than on the up-and-up.
Both sisters love their parents and distant relatives yet are able to distance themselves quite easily and live their own lives. If they do not bond to a dragon, they will certainly keep their guild interests.
Sabina was selected to become a Blackbottom -- but her hair WAS naturally red to start! It's the black that's new. Her sister begged her not to dye her hair, but eventually it grew on her.
"Blue, dearest, he's got it because I gave it to him, and besides he writes far better than you with that tiny little script of yours."
Blue glared at her black-bottomed sister. "...My script is perfect. Not at all like your own rather fruity hand."
"Girls, girls," the bard laughed as he draped his arms over each of their shoulders, "it's just a pen. Here you are." He put the quilled pen into Sabina's awaiting hand. She passed it back to Blue.
"It is not 'just' a pen, Kerelos," Blue said. "It's an heirloom. It's a beautiful pen and it's got the sharp perfect point I need. I hope you haven't smushed it." She examined the tip, and seemed satisfied.
The bard leaned closer to Sabina and muttered, "she's quite a perfectionist, isn't she?"
"And I'm not?" Sabina grinned.
"Wouldn't know..." he replied and wandered away. The sisters watched him.
"He's never going to amount to much," Sabina said.
"You're the one who latched onto him in the first place." Blue slouched and stirred her cocoa listlessly. "Any way, I have a bunch of metals to sort through. If I can't find the right mix of wires I won't be able to finish my new toy."
"Will it make my life easier if I find you the right stuff?" Sabina purred, grinning. "I mean, I do know several of those Alabaster guys are in the House this week, and they've always got some kind of --"
"They are?" Blue brightened immediately. Sabina nodded, and they left the table but kept their warm drinks. It was mid-winter and they'd both had enough of frostbitten fingers. They could hardly write or work with chilly hands...
It didn't take long for the pair to run into some of those selfsame Alabaster Aerie folks. They were dragon riders, holdovers from the transfer to Alskyr. But they were far more than that to the sisters. Vax was a strange rider of an equally strange brown Volth, a boy with no legs bonding to a brown dragon the size of a green!? His large bald head was bundled with fur hat and sash, and he removed those things when he and his companion entered the House area. Snow dropped away from their clothing and Sabina was the first to start fawning on the riders bringing them inside.
The other rider was A'rik, another brown rider. Physically the opposite of slender Vax, charming with his laughter at Vax's use of so much protective gear.
"It's hardly cold out there, Vax..." A'rik shook his head and his curly hair danced around. Blue giggled and drew his eyes toward her.
"It's totally freezing out there, what are you talking about?" Blue swept some of the snow off of A'rik's shoulders, not that she could reach that high as he was quite a large man. Sabina had an easier time next to Vax, though he stood with his clever artificial legs propping him up, she wound up under a pile of layered furs and leathers.
"Vax, is there anything TO you? You're not all furs and scarves, are you?" Sabina lumped the gear over her shoulder and helped the men to a table in the main dining hall. The table she picked was out of the way, and she silently motioned for Blue to get them some warm drinks. It was her turn to work magic, so that later on Blue would be able to make her own toys.
And Sabina was good at it. Vax knew that he was being played, but A'rik was either oblivious or truly didn't care. The attention that the blackbottom girl lavished on both of them was impressive. Enough so that the riders of their odd wing (the "Screw Loose" Wing, their strange buch all played with toys like Blue's, and she would surely join them if she bonded...) gave up half a month's worth of cargo hauling in favor of helping the sisters dig through years and years of electronic garbage that had been stored in the hollow mountainside nearby.
*** About Half an Hour Later ***
"But where did this stuff come from, anyway?" Asked Sabina. She had never really understood the hows-and-whys of this tangled mess of metal, wire, cement and glass. It had come with the dragon homes and the guilds from their old world -- or more accurately it came from Earth.
But only Vax and A'rik knew that. Something about the way Sabina looked at them prodded an answer. She didn't really care, much, that the building which housed a high-tech industry had also come along for the ride to Alskyr.
To Blue, though, she was enthralled. "There's a processor down here, I can see it but I can't reach it... quite..." She was stretched out on a slab of cement which had three huge girders twisted out of it, reaching down into a window frame of sorts. Vax flexed himself out of the rubberized body-stocking that attached his legs to his body, and with his arms as propulsion came to her aid.
"I can get it, hold on to my belt, will you?" He asked, and though Blue was a bit taken aback by this odd event she held on to the black leather strap he offered. Vax dangled down into the dark tangle of wires and such, until he laid his hands on the board which Blue wanted. They spoke at length about what she could do with it, once they had power.
A'rik and Sabina sat a bit off to the side, and the rider explained things to the girl as they watched the collection going on.
"But what's she going to make with it, anyway?" Asked A'rik.
"I dunno. She said something about a 'three-eighty-six' but I don't know what that means. And I don't WANT to know," she held up a hand and A'rik laughed. He did not explain. Sabina was happy. Her sister was happy. Everyone was happy.
*** Three Months Later ***
"Doesn't it work yet?" Sabina asked. Blue grunted.
"It needs just a little more tweaking. And maybe if we could get a lightning strike to hit the big metal bar on the peak, that'd be great." She said, leaning back and laughing.
"Sure, controlling the elements is something I can do, easy as pie..." Sabina giggled. "Why would you want to even do this thing? I mean, you don't spend nearly enough time out with real people to begin with."
"But there are people in here," she whispered, patting the strange metal box she'd assembled. "There are all kinds of things I've found down in that scrap heap. It's like all the books and scrolls from history mixed up and put into these little things." She held up a small square flat object, "I've foud words and images, but I can't get to a lot of it. I need more power."
"Everyone says that," Sabina muttered, playing with her hair. "Especially lords and their sons..."
Blue sensed that something Sabina had been doing had turned sour. "What was that?" She asked.
"It's nothing. A guy. He asked me to marry him."
Blue's eyebrow soared, "... and?"
"And what? I was investigating him for ... well, some not-nice-stuff. His father is a total crank. He's buried three wives, and he'd be on a fourth if his son wasn't already old enough to inherit. I don't want any part of that."
"Well at least you learn from your spying..." Blue replied.
"Recon. Information gathering. I do not spy."
"Do so."
Sabina stuck her tongue out at her older sister, and then turned to see a servant standing at their door. "...yes?" She asked, hoping that the little squirt hadn't been there very long.
"There's a search on, outside. Says everyone to come." The half-witted servant bobbed her head and went on to the next dorm. Several people had come out to see already, and most were excited anyway. The courtyard held a beautiful dragon, one which had elegant long horns coming from her pale green head, and had a dappling of white along the edges of her wings.
"What an amazing dragon," Blue whispered. Her sister nodded.
There were many people assembled in front of the dragon, but most of them were almost immediately released. Too young, too old, not attentive...
But Blue and Sabina were asked to remain. The dragon paced in front of them and they strived to keep their eyes from bugging out of their heads. This was one seriously cool dragon.
"Well," the rider said, "it looks like you two are good. You're sisters, aren't you?"
"We are," Sabina announced. She was suddenly very relieved. If she was to stand, she couldn't be forced into a marriage! Blue smiled ear to ear.
"It's to Mountain Note Weyr with you then. I'm going to have you pack and send your things later, if that's all right? There are other candidates I must pick up so I don't want to wear out my Zironath." She patted the mint-green dragon's leg, and laughed.
"Mountain Note... That sounds pretty!" Sabina said, wedging herself near the rider, and chatting her up while Blue was left to select their bags and posessions.
Wouldn't Sabina be surprised when most of the things coming weren't hers...
"And if they'd found the papers, do you think we'd both still be here? I mean, come on, Sab, you're the first to find dirt on anyone anywhere. Do the math!"
"I'm no good at math," Sabina insisted. They were both weary, and wanted their sleep, when a frantic Valecaea swept through the barracks and yelled something.
"The eggs, hatching, now?" Blue said, sitting up and bumping her head on the upper bunk where her sister bounded down from.
"Wow. Wow. Wow!" Sabina chanted, and they ran to the sands after donning their robes. A few other people managed to get themselves out of bed and into the stands before the eggs began to really quake. But one in particular was holding all of Blue's attention.
She'd have bet on it hatching first, but then a pretty little green hatched and seemingly didn't want to come out into the real world just yet. An egg behind her got bumped when she backed up, and from it sprang a beautiful blue. That was the egg which Blue watched. He was frosted, with pale edges on his darker blue wings. A lovely dragon. Blue's eyes were filled with nothing but him.
Blue. I am Kanorth, will you accept me as your own?
"Of course I will! I couldn't reject you!" Blue cried out, embracing Kanorth and thinking how proud their mother would be - she was carrying on the tradition in name and in dragon now!
Then a bit later, after several of the eggs hatched - and two or more pairs of dragons bonded to one another - a dragoness the spitting image of her beautiful silver-blue mother came from her shell. Only, this one was burnished to black on the tips of her wings! Quite frankly she didn't want to have hatched so early, but one of the other dragons who'd come out was busy accidentally hitting eggs left and right with his tail. I am senisilith, and I would come to you, Sabina, but I cannot seem to find you!
"But I'm right here," Sabina said, breathing a sigh and hoping that the dragon's sight wasn't damaged by her adventure being struck in the shell. "is something the matter?"
My head hurts. But I shall be all right.
The too left the sands, joining their sisters in the kitchens where a fresh bowl of meat, and hot cereal were made ready for the bonds!
