Shrouded in Secrets (Wonder)

[LyricalBlue]

The blue dragon crouched low amidst the dense jungle foliage, doing his best to try and stay hidden. The only movement the dragon displayed was rapidly whirling eyes. Points of red within the jungle foliage followed his rider as J'sian walked away.
This is not the best idea/

The rider turned back to face his dragon with worried eyes. For a while he would have to become Jarsian again.
Don't worry Ali, I'll be fine. All you have to do is tell me who I talk to feels right.

The dragon didn't so much as twitch a muscle, but the worry was palatable. At least, his rider could feel it like a blanket wrapped around him. But then, there was not a Weyr born human alive who could remember the last time Dragonriders went to Holds on Search.

So for now, he did this in secret. It was J'sian's job to see if it could be done. Alimath was his only backup, but the large blue would probably scare any holders witless. A smirk crept across the rider's face. That might be fun to watch, although he hoped that such measures would not be needed.
I do not like this.

J'sian wanted badly to stay and comfort the blue, assure him that nothing bad could ever possibly happen to his rider. But, there was work to do and disaffected Holders to find.
Don't worry Ali, this will all turn out just fine.

[wonder123]

Hours had passed since his meeting with that strange man, and the incident was miles from Trevan's mind. He was a bit single-minded in that, when something required his attention, he gave it his full focus. And he didn't have the patience for deadglows wandering Pern. He had a family to care for.

Now, with the wet heat blanketing him like a baby, he crouched lower into a bush. He gripped his spear in sweaty palms, eyeing his prey. In front of him was a thick wherry, somehow seperated from its herd. Trevan wasn't one to question good fortune, and ever so slowly he inched through the brush. The sounds of the jungle covered his approach.

Just a little farther now, and he'd be within striking range...

[LyricalBlue]

The noise of the boy stalking near by startled the large blue dragon and he lifted his head to look about. Spying Trevan who was at that moment looking away from him, Alimath ducked his head back down.
Oops!
Whats oops?

Having had a very unsuccessful hunt, J'sian had turned from the Hold and was just now sauntering back towards where Alimath was hidden. Not a soul had seemed at interested in Jarisan, holdless man. Perhaps bringing the blue would have been a better idea after all.
The one you spoke to before is here.
Oh! Hold on!

Ali did his best to stay hidden, but his tail twitched back and forth and eyes whirled rapidly green with his excitement. This was almost fun, almost. He urged J'sian on faster wordlessly. It would be rather strange to talk to a Holder boy. He never had though, in fact, he would be the first dragon to say he had! Hm, maybe this was not so bad.

[wonder123]

Trevan was familiar with the day-to-day wildlife to be encountered on Pern. At least, in the small world in which he lived. Wherries were to be hunted, along with any herdbeasts that could be tracked down in these parts. Runnerbeasts were useful, but too expensive, and ths rarely seen in Southern Hold. Tunnelsnakes were a nuisance.

But none of those were blue.

You can imagine his confusion then, as he stalked his prey, that a glimpse of the color would catch his eye enough for him to lose his focus momentarily. His foot landed too heavy on the underbrush and alerted the animal to his presence. It was gone in a second, leaving Trevan alone. Or so it seemed.

"Scorch it!" He yelled, his voice echoing. He didn't care what heard him now that his dinner had run off. Angry, and needing to feel justified, he began to stomp over for further investigation. It'd better be edible.

[LyricalBlue]

For long moments, Alimeth crouched in the undergrowth, trying his very best to remain hidden. That of course was not going to happen now that the strange human had zeroed in on his presence. As Trevan nearly stepped on his nose, the dragon decided he simply could not remain hidden longer. Alimeth raised his head, which was rather longer than the entirety of the boy's height and mrred.

A half second later, J'sian burst out of the underbrush, jogging towards the strange pair. How in the name of Faranth had that kid found his way here. He'd taken such pains to keep Alimeth far enough away from the Hold and now that darned kid nearly steps on his dragon.

The blue swung his head in the direction of his rider, worriedly. J'sian slowed his charge to a fast walk as he closed the remaining distance.
Good, you got here. He has pointy things.
"Ali! He is not going to hurt you, relax!"

[wonder123]

Trevan didn't really know what it was at first. He advanced cautiously, thinking at most it was a group of holdless outlaws or animal who got dyed in a horrible prank gone wrong. There was no other way to explain the color. Maybe he could put the animal out of its misery.

And then it moved. Suddenly was peering into very large, faceted eyes. Eyes that didn't belong to any natural Jungle-dwelling creature.

For all his bravado, Trevan's stoic nature, it dropped in a second at seeing a dragon up close, almost nosetip-to-nosetip with him. Of course, he wouldn't realize what it really was until it'd been explained - right now it was The Unusually Colored Jungle Monster. All he could do was yell and try to run away as quickly as possible. Something made more difficult to do with that man from before blocking his escape route. Tre didn't bother figuring out what he was doing there....but if he knew what was good for him, he'd leave.

"Run!" He waved his arms frantically at him to get him going, not registering the fact he'd spoken, and to it. "Move, man!" Trevan wasn't going to die becuse he was a deadglow. He'd be bowled over in a second if he didn't get goin'.

[LyricalBlue]

Not exactly a tall man, J'sian was hardened from years of riding adragonback. So he held the boy in place, preventing any further flight. This was not going to plan. The rider sighed, at least the boy's first instinct was to run and not stab something. He'd been half worried that the blue might have been right.
"He won't hurt you."

Behind them, Alimeth shifted in the underbrush, tilting his head to get a better look at what was going on. Well, now they knew what would happen if they had simply flown into the hold. Looks like old N'sian had been right after all, it figured. The blue of course, had no idea why the boy was so scared, it wasn't like he was anywhere near as large as Myneth of Xialanth.

J'sian huffed as he tried to hold the boy in place. Holders. It seemed they were either rude or scared and that there wasn't much else to them.
"Hes a dragon. His name is Alimeth. He won't hurt you."

[wonder123]

"Did you not see his teeth?" Trevan spat back. He knew what teeth were for - ripping and tearing nd gnashing on flesh. Their flesh, didn't the other man realize that? Why wouldn't he let him go?

Finally the words sank in. Not that it made Trevan relax - but he realized the man was either truly as daft as he thought, or was possibly in the same league with it. The holdless had a new weapon it seemed, here in the dense Jungle. He shook himself loose of the man's grasp.

"That...thing...has a name?!?" He pointed at the giant head, as that was all he could see of its body. "Tell me the truth. Where are you from? What's your business here?"

[LyricalBlue]

Alimeth's eyes whirled worriedly and the blue shifted position once more as the tension between the two men seemed to fade to a much more normal level.
I would not eat him.

Relaxing his grip on the young man, J'sian chuckled inwardly at the dragon's comment. He did as little as he could to show it however. Now was not a time for laughing. As Trevan calmed down enough for rational thought, J'sian let him go entirely, dropping his hands down, palms outward. Hopefully, holders still recognized that universal symbol for peace.

"I lied to you back there. You have my apologies. My name is J'sian, it used to be Jarsian. At least, it was until I Impressed Alimeth there. I'm a dragonrider you see." Lines gathered at the ends of his eyes as the bluerider tried to smile reassuringly.
"I'm on Search you see. But charging straight into the Hold wouldn't have gone so well."

J'sian was always a man of the belief that honesty worked best and E'dian might have his hide for blowing their cover. But well, the boy had nearly stepped on Alimeth and he couldn't exactly haul the lad away with no explanation whatsoever. Kidnapping was not really his favorite idea in the world.

[wonder123]

If anyone appreciated honesty, it was Trevan. But maybe for the first time, it would have been better to ease into it more slowly, to cushion the harsh blow of reality with one or two stretches of the truth. Instead, the boy's wide eyes looked from Jarsian...no, J'sian, to the blue dragon as he finally began to comprehend what he'd been told.

So, despite what they'd been told all these turns, the legends were true. Men rode dragons, huge beasts that could breathe fire and destroy Thread (not the only enemy to the Hold, but certainly the most devastating) in seconds, and here they were right in front of him. Having a conversation, friendly as can be. Trevan didn't know quite what a Search was, but did it matter? This man was here. Dragon, too.

That just left one nagging question though.

"Then where have you been all these flaming turns?!" Trevan didn't mean for it to come out so harsh, but life at Southern was anything but easy. The Hold, once prominent and bustling had dwindled to just a skeleton of its former self. Trevan didn't really believe it had been anything more, how could people live prosperously in this land? Where had these dragons been when Thread fell over their precious crops right before Harvest, or when they'd been raided by outlaws?

What good were they to anyone? Where had they been, if they weren't extinct like everyone thought? "You guys just show up like nothing's wrong, but where were you when we needed you?" He threw up his hands.

Flamin' dragons. Who knew.

(I can edit if any of my facts are wrong...)

[LyricalBlue]

The rapid change of attitude in the Holder boy was not entirely unexpected, N'sian had warned him that this would happen when they found out who he was. And that was precisely the reason a cover story had been proposition as a good idea. At least, J'sian thought, the lad wasn't getting violent.

Prepping himself for an explanation he was not sure would be received well, the rather short man took a long breath. Hopefully, this lad understood, they had to save the dragons.
"The Weyrs were dying out. It was that disease. The only ones that survived convened at Ponaa Weyr and decided that the only way we could save the dragons would be isolation."

Sadly though, that didn't seem to help. Certianly the riders stopped getting sick, but the queens also stopped clutching. And the clutches got smaller and smaller, which was opposite of what all the records said should happen with the return of thread.

"We're trying to come back, but..." J'sian shrugged, the familiar pain of isolation in his eyes. Every Weyrbred human being knew there were others out there. Others that they were supposed to protect and couldn't. 'Dragonriders must fly' was heard many times on every day.

"We only have one Queen left, shes expecting her first clutch. And...." How much exactly should he tell this boy? Ah well, if word leaked out, maybe they would get people trekking to the Weyr on their own. "And we don't have enough Candidates to offer. Thats why I'm here. Lad, there are only forty five dragons left. We nigh to don't exist."

[wonder123]

"We were dying out!" Came Trevan's answer on the heels of the Rider's explanation. "Between the disease, Thread, and outlaws, how were we to survive? We didn't even have shardin' dragons to help! You call yourselves riders....Riders fly and protect. You were all cowards."

As a child, in the darkness when no one could see or bother him, Trevan liked to dream legends were real. He hadn't known what dragons had looked like, but he knew he a kid's imagination and that was good enough. In his fantasies, he always saved the day on the back of a dragon, and his parents were alive to see him do it. They were proud. Thousands would look up at him (since the Hold would be much larger, having being saved from the doom that had settled on it turns ago) and cheer.

But then he had to grow up.

And we don't have enough Candidates to offer. "Well, find Candidates then!" The answer was simple enough. He didn't quite know what they were, but they were bound to dwell in the forest, right? Every other creature seemed to, he thought as he glanced sideways quickly at the blue dragon again. Something that size could surely hunt for itself, right?

According to J'sian? It seemed not to be the case. "You better not be meaning to raid Southern. I don't care if this thing eats me or not, I won't let you." As if there were anything to take. No doubt J'sian had seen that on his journey there earlier. Still, Trevan's brown eyes were stern as he looked at the older man. Those excuses for Riders couldn't just walk in here after forsaking the rest of the world and take what they wanted.

[LyricalBlue]

Why exactly was it he who had to take the brunt of this young holder's wrath. It wasn't like he had made the decision to go into hiding. J'sian shrugged, watching the youth with a saddened expression. His fault or not, Trevan was right. Dragonriders had a duty that had been neglected for far too long.
"Oh! No! No raiding, we're not like that. We just want volunteers!"

Of course, the Weyr did not exactly have population enough to fight off any sort of response had they raided. As Trevan ranted onwards, J'sian began to really wonder if this was a very bad idea instead of a good one. He spoke after another long pause, looking visibly defeated.

"You're right. We have a duty to do. That's why I'm here. Alimeth thought you would do, if... you want to come and try."
Behind him the blue ruffled his wings, eyes whirling at a more sedate pace and he rumbled softly. The boy did indeed smell right to him. He could Impress, if he wanted to. Of course, Alimeth rather couldn't imagine why he wouldn't want to. Who wouldn't want another one of him? Really.

[wonder123]

Volunteers.....

That stopped him cold. His mouth was actually open, ready to continue his lecturing or challenge J'sian over the Hold, and he belatedly remembered to close it. So he could just...leave this place? The near starvation and laboring in a burning smithy and instead spend his time flying through the skies?

His eyes widened at the prospect before his rational side kicked in again. "No. I can't." The words came out slowly, like Trevan didn't want to say them. For all their legends of heroism, the Dragonriders had just become a group of lazy people who felt elite and entitled to keep the main weapon of Thread to themselves all these years. Any life he lived here had to be worth something more than that going to waste in a Weyr. Trevan wasn't much, but he was a hard worker and honest.

Someone needed to show the Riders what hard work was. To remind them of their duties. Well, maybe he could do that. No one else was stepping up.

"Well, I'll go on one condition." It would be non-negotiable, so if the blue rider refused, that would settle it for Trevan. "My uncle and sister come with, or I stay here." He wasn't about to abandon the man who had ...in his best attempt to... raised him and his litte sister. Anessa would work when prompted, and his Toress was an above average smith. They could make their homes anywhere. But Trevan wouldn't make his anywhere else without them.

[LyricalBlue]

J'sian paused to look back at Alimeth, could the blue handle four?
I can handle anything I need to.
Well... he was big for a blue, the rider turned back and nodded, holding his hand out to Trevan.
"You've got a deal. We could use a smith actually."

Behind him, Alimeth stood and rustled his wings, looking around at himself. He could handle four, sure he could. The amount of things they had would be a problem though. People had a lot of things. At least, J'sian seemed to and they wore strange coverings on their bodies. He rather thought he wouldn't want to cover his body. Not as nice a blue as it was.

J'sian tilted his head as the thoughts leaked over from Alimeth. Yes, smiths especially did tend to have a rather lot of things, tools mostly from what he knew of the trade.
"Right, go and get your things. How much do you have to carry?"