Granger, Grigg, Cybil
Born fourth of six, and second girl, at age 17 Cybil is a natural architect. Her eye for detail is unmatched!
With training in building technology and math, Cybil has a very keen mind and a strong sense of style. Cybil is not afraid to get in and actually hammer, saw and drill. She enjoys the physical side as much as design.
Born first of six, Granger is obviously male, strongly built and with a sound mind to match. He is 22.
After arrival to Alskyr, Granger discovered his enjoyment of guard work. He has training as sentry, works with weapons as well as hand to hand combat, and like most Blackstone folk he has been trained with tactics by the best.
Second of six children, Grigg is male and age 19. He is a bit distractable and not made for fights!
Grigg works more with his sister Cybil on archetectural projects, his training includes working with textiles, manufacturing and fitting buildings with their interiors. He is excellent at interior design, but also enjoys drawing and doodling. He is an arteest.
Blackstone's arrival to Alskyr put the West family into overdrive. Though all six siblings were born on the old world, they all thrive properly in the new. With the greater amount of technology and information available to them, those who choose technical professions might be welcomed with open arms by one or more of the Guilds.
Granger stood looking at the notices on the tall wall of Blackstone's entrance hallway. The place had been re-designed since their arrival, and he appreciated the work that had gone into making their people welcome. The Caer sat more on the side of the mountain than within it, which gave everyone a chance to see outside. At last! It was something he missed back at the old world. Everyone scurrying around indoors all the time, never pausing to look up except in fear.
The only things to fear here came on the ground, and that was good. The things in the air... Ahh, well, dragons still thrilled the eldest of the West siblings. Granger leaned against the wall and stared outside, until he heard footsteps down the hall. He glanced at the doors, then resumed his careful examination of the notices on the wall, as if he'd been doing nothing but. Daydreaming wasn't something that guard-trainees were meant to do very often.
"Hey, Granger," said his elder trainer S'ky, "Good, you're here. Did you see the flight notice yet?"
"Saw it, saw you're signed up for it. Crazy old coot like you shouldn't be flying around like this..." Granger laughed at the brown riding man. He hadn't aged a day in almost half a century, why should he start now? Granger grinned at the white-haired Blackstone man, his tactician and friend. "I also saw there's some action on the home world. Tell me something," Granger said and S'ky grunted, "why should we keep sending people to the old world if there are dragons to bond here?"
S'ky ground his jaw around, and blinked his grey eyes. "Because some of those weyrs are sending dragons who adapt easily to our new conditions. Some of them can still teleport after arrival, and some of them can even spit fire on command."
"Not yours," Granger joked.
"Nope, not mine. Dasnath is a teleporter. Gets me where I need to be." S'ky nodded to prove it to his dragon, who of course was listening in on them. "And you, if that's where you want to be."
"I... haven't decided yet. I mean we only just got here six years ago, and I'm really starting to get into the training."
"There will always be time to train, young lad," S'ky said, placing his snow-white hand on Granger's shoulder, "if you're interested in seeing this clutch, then let's go."
Stunned, but recovering quickly, Granger shook his head. "Not just yet, S'ky. I want to ask my sister if she'd be up for it too. I've seen the way Cyb stares at the sky... Whenever dragons go over head, she's always watching them. It's in our blood."
S'ky laughed, "Granger, *everything* is your family's blood. Dragon riders, sculptors, poets, miners... If you come across a profession your family doesn't do, get back to me about it, I want to write it down..."
Granger chuckled as S'ky walked away, out of the hall and to greet his dragon outside. The notice on the wall wasn't getting any fresher... And the longer Granger stood there mulling it over the longer those eggs on Talis Weyr's sands were going to be hardening. He made up his mind to find Cybil and see about taking her along.
"Put it up there, where I told you to in the first place!" She said, sharply but with power. "If that beam isn't set into the ground right, it'll just bring everything down around us when it falls." She huffed and stomped around, almost running smack into the wide chest of her brother. "Arp! Granger!" She growled. But her elfin face softened into a pleased grin. "Grrranger!" She growled again, more catlike. "Just the big healthy strong brother-of-mine I wanted to see!"
"Ah -- oh no, Cyb, I'm not here to work!" Granger backed up, hands up defensively, but Cybil grabbed one wrist -- her grip was unnaturally tight -- and dragged him up to the site. There at the top, she told him to look down and see if there were any spots which he thought, as a guard, he wouldn't be able to see around.
At first rubbing his wrist and grumbling about being dragged into working for her on his off hours, but then willing to see about this blind-side business... Granger stood and tilted his head. He walked along what was going to be a kind of rampart thing, behind which the hill rose. Below them, a small, curved courtyard was being put up, with an A-frame style rooftop above it, halfway jutting from the hill. Granger appraised the situation quickly.
"Well, even though I can see through the walls right now, they're not finished," He said, "there doesn't seem to be a place where I can't see by walking a couple feet. I'd thought that this A-beam would get in the way, but..." He peered around, and judged distances, "it looks like the courtyard is secure underneath, and you can see everything beyond the walls just fine from here. Nothing's sneaking up on this court."
Cybil nodded and made a little tick-mark on her writing pad. She put it away, and grinned widely. "Thank you brother of mine!" She said, and was about to scamper off to do who-knew-what with her poor over-worked construction guys. But Granger called out.
"Sis, there's a clutch at the homeworld I'd like to go to..." He said, and she stopped. Her waist-length tail of blond hair stopped a moment later, and spun into a fan as she turned.
"Really?" She asked, big eyes growing wider. "Where?"
"A place called Talis. Columbia bonded there, remember that beautiful blue of hers?"
Cybil nearly swooned, "oooh, do I! What a dragon! And... they've got eggs? There's a notice?"
"On the wall inside. If you'd ever pause long enough to go inside one of your buildings, sweet sister, you'd know that."
"I'd have to pause and read it, you know I don't have time for that."
"There is always time to read," said a third voice, male, and one which both knew well. "Greetings," Grigg said. His voice was deeper than his brother's, slower speech made him seem far more jolly and relaxed than the guard. "I just saw the notice too," he indicated with a toss of his head. "Talis is a good place, I'd love to look it over. Their dragons are solid."
"That's a good word for them," Cybil snickered. "We could get transportation there, couldn't we? I mean, we haven't been properly searched for their sands."
"But we've been searched, already," Granger said. "You wouldn't remember, sister dear, but I do. We were all fairly young. It was well before we came here."
Cybil smacked her sibling on his rounded shoulder. "Yes, you should have! When was this?"
"You were only about four, Cyb, I was nine," Granger announced. They began to walk into the Caer hallways, from the construction site. "Shard and the other leaders of the Protectorate were starting to gear up for leaving, and he was making the rounds to everyone's homes. I guess that he decided certain people would be staying, and some would be going along, he was making sure that if we were going, we'd know the routine."
"That's so totally not like how Alabaster did it..." Grigg said, muttering and shaking his head. "They just blotted it out of everyone's minds and took them all without warning. That's not very kind, I don't think!"
"Geh," Cybil said, tilting her head and nodding in agreement. "Go on, Granger."
Their eldest sibling continued the tale, his voice heavy with memory. "Shard and his blue Jeremoth came around, I remember because you," he nudged Cybil with his elbow, "started squealing something about dragons in the air. You're like an early warning system. We all thought you'd be the guardian, not me..." They laughed, and he spoke again. "But so he and our folks talked for a while, and you bolted outside to see the dragon. The rest of us came after you, because we thought you'd get squished by him. Not a little dragon, you know... And when Shard came out again, he and Jeremoth started talking in their heads. He told me that we'd been Searched, but he wasn't sure when we'd be able to bond. Odd. He didn't argue with Jeremoth, but he wasn't happy that he didn't have a place where we were going to stand, right away."
"We were much too young anyway," Grigg said, "I mean, I was six. It's a good thing he didn't have an emergency sands to shove us at. I've enjoyed becoming an artist. It's a good life..." He paused, and then looked with slightly narrowed eyes at Granger. "Wait a minute, he searched ALL of us?"
"All of us there. Obviously, Chloe and me, you and Cyb. Chandry and Grail weren't born yet." Granger said, looking away from his brother's curious stare.
"But ... I'm totally not dragon riding material." Grigg said, sure of himself. "I mean, I'm a designer. There's so much work for dragons!"
"Work is good for you," Cybil reminded him, poking him in the gut with a sharp finger.
"You work too hard," Grigg said, ruffling his own fingers through her hair. "I mean... I can see you both on dragons... But..."
"I can so totally see you too. But Chloe? No way," Cybil laughed. "She's all havin' babies already anyway, she has enough on her hands to stand for a dragon."
"Well..." Granger sighed, "that leaves getting there, and getting a good recommendation from one of our riders to their weyrwoman. I mean, we can't stand if we aren't supposed to."
Granger knew that S'ky was there, behind him, before his strong hands slapped down on his shoulders, so he wasn't as startled by the man's appearance as the others. "I can arrange that!" S'ky said, loudly, and Cybil 'yeeped!'
"You need to make more noise," she hissed at him, fiercely. "You could have scared me half to death!"
"Cybil, you're working yourself to death already, I'd only be pushing you along..." S'ky laughed. "Now, are we going? Or are you going to whine some more about not being rider material?"
Grigg perked up and shook his head. "No sir, but we should collect our things. And thank you! For offering to take us!"
Always the polite one, Grigg bowed as per the Tsan Nu traditions he'd been studying. He ... He did want to ride, but he did also really want to see about their weavers and dye makers... Dawnlight's folk were suited to those things, and... "Say... isn't your cousin a weaver?" He asked, and S'ky laughed.
"Yes, Loth is a weaver, he's also a rider. Remember?"
"Keeth, right? A brown like yours?" Grigg flexed his memory. "Well, no brown is like YOURS, of course..." He heard the bellow from outside, as Dasnath listened in.
"Yes. And you know what they do now?" S'ky said, "they weave, and they transport goods from Dawnlight to Tsan Nu. And people. So. Designer-dragonrider, it's all the same thing. We can do what we will. No restrictions. So, stop thinking of yourself in one profession, kid. You'll stand and do fine. And when you come back, you'll be just as honored as any other rider!"
"Or any artist," Grigg said, quietly, "if I do not bond."
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