Conspiracy, Room Two

Elanor stalked around the room as the first of the weyrlings trickled in. Those who had received Feyrieth's covertly whispered message should be arriving any minute now. People who had decided they weren't interested? Well, weren't they going to be surprised after Elanor's grand plans kicked in. Feyrieth, meanwhile, was watching rather amusedly as her bonded flowed around the room like a summer storm.

"So," Elanor said, quiet but just enough to cut through the hubbub. She crossed to the door and hung another bedfur over the drawn curtain. It wasn't like having a proper wooden Holder door, but it would be enough to keep the noise from echoing down the hallway. "This Weyr needs full-grown dragons, and it barely has the resources to train them. I'm supposed to be meeting with our Weyrwoman every other day, and I haven't seen her in over three sevendays. She doesn't have time running this kind of Weyr, and nobody else really does either."

She folded her hands behind her neck, looking around at the assembled Weyrlings. Feyrieth was providing her rather distracting images of the current physical conditions of their dragons, who were by now too large to fit more than a few even in the most spacious room in the barracks. "Some of you might have heard rumors... the leadership likes to make sure they seem silly... but the truth is, dragons don't have to be constrained to just going between to different places. They can travel between times as well."

The gold weyrling paused. "Praesto doesn't need more people to archive... to scrub pots... to provide merriment to whoever's watching from the Fireheights. They need fighting dragons, and they needed them... yesterday." She raised her eyebrows. "Those of us who are in good physical and mental health... those whose dragons can safely bear us on shorter flights... I was thinking we should go somewhere in the future or the past and complete our training there... then return to this current time, perhaps a sevenday after we left. Only we'd be a Turn and a half older, and our dragons would be too."

She looked over at Berlioz, who was standing, arms akimbo, in the doorway. The sandy-haired weyrling knew exactly why she hadn't been invited, and exactly why she should have been. A dark blue firelizard peered out from the tangled mass of hair at the back of her neck. "What?" Elanor asked flatly.

"They're not going to let you do it," Berlioz said. "How are you going to convince an angry gold dragon to let her babies do something so risky people tell us it's imaginary to keep us from trying?" She tilted her head. "Even if you don't go through Alaizabel, Dyana knows that, what makes you think she'd take the fall for teaching you?" Her eyes lit up suddenly in a calculated flash. She had, after all, been planning this interjection from the moment Elanor mentioned that timing it was real.

"We need someone we can blackmail. Anybody got any dirt?" Berlioz wasn't sure she could really pin anything meaty on someone who actually knew something that advanced, but she sharding well was going to try.

Elanor, meanwhile, slumped back to lean her hips on the desk, one hand cupping her forehead in slight distress. Oh, Berlioz.

"I will go."

Mythril stood, Aliaviath by her side. Her eyes were fierce with something strong and practiced. If Berlioz was going, she would go. She was making a few newer friends, but it was still so much harder without knowing where the other girl was. Everyone else was just too awkward. And besides -- it wouldn't be too bad, really, coming back a turn and a half older.

"Alia and I have been doing strength training on our own. I think I can do this."

She thought a moment, then continued:

"As for Weyrling Master Dyana...does she not have a brother here? He helps out at the Fireheights every so often. Kh'ril, of Brown Aideneth. He's all for things like this, and I'll bet he could convince her."

"Why only a turn and a half?" Terrasa asked from the side, where she was leaning against the wall. She was completly filthy as she had come from practice with her cousin, something they always seemed to be doing.

"If we want fighting dragons shouldn't we try for two or three turns more? Just jump farther back in time one step at a time?" J'red asked, a bit interested in the idea. They were both ready for the challenge and would go if they knew what to do.

"We would need a secluded area that wasn't in use a turn or so ago. J'red and I are in and we can help to provide the hunting skills if they are needed." Terrasa said. She was excited an it showed in her hazel eyes. They glimmered in the light with mischief behind them. "Also isn't there a brown rider that does things differently or acts a bit weird. Could we use him?"

Elanor inspected Mythril candidly, eyebrows drawn. "Talk to me in a bit about it, Mythril, alright?" Quite frankly, as a healer, she was worried, no matter how much she admired the girl's quiet determination. It was handy to have something else to catch onto in her conversation. "What do you mean 'all for things like this'?" She asked. "What other efforts do you know Kh'ril had a hand in, beyond, you know... Praesto."

"Risings," Elanor said bluntly to J'red's question. "A Turn and a half pushes us up right to the border of when greens start getting flighty. Not to put too fine a point on it, but there's too small a pool for healthy Weyrling relationships if we have to endure that kind of thing. Besides, even once our dragons are of appropriate size and train a bit, they still have to learn to work synergistically with an entire wing, an entire Weyr, and that can't be learned in a vacuum. If dragon brains are anything like human brains, best to learn that sort of thing young."

She pushed off the desk and started pacing what little space there was as Terrasa talked. "Why just a Turn or so ago? Why not just use the place that is freshest in our minds at the moment? Why not use Praesto's volcano, several Turns before anyone gets here?"

Elanor shook her head at Terrasa's suggestion. She thought the ruby weyrling might be speaking about B'stil, and she had never really liked his cocky attitude, or even his storytelling style. "A brownrider isn't going to have been told about going between times, Terrasa... and even if he had been, his dragon's capabilities aren't going to have leant him much practice." She leant back against the desk, but her posture was still restless, ever-moving. "Golds have the most capability for it... jumps farthest afield in both distance and time. Mottleds tend to have talent too, from what I was able to wrench out of Alaiza, and some bronzes can handle it to a rather facile degree."

At the mention of speaking to her after the meeting, Mythril's heart dropped a fraction. Elanor was a Healer, first and foremost, and the girl had a good idea as to what it was they were to converse. She just nodded. "Yes, Elanor." Mythi listened quietly to the rest of the Junior Weyrwoman's questions, putting together a response. She finally answered in a soft, steady voice: "Well, I know from Miss Dyana that he doesn't like being tied down, and when I spoke with him during my Fireheights chores he mentioned that we should have started the first of our flying lessons some time ago, but the Weyrling Master has been having trouble putting together such classes in the Weyrwoman's absence... He was very indignant..."

The girl trailed off, not quite sure she should be putting Kh'ril in such a position. She sat back down on the chair she had risen from and Aliaviath promptly set her head down on her mine's lap, attempting to soothe a bit of her worry. At the mention of another Brown Rider, though, her voice perked up again. "I think that we should ask A'gehri, too. We all know him, and... well... Dyana's going to need help, yes? Her Mottled can't handle our flying lessons all by herself."

"So our options are blackmail, or groveling and hoping the Weyrlingmaster or another rider understands the need, not the danger?" Nadria's tart voice rose from the corner in which she had secreted herself, watching the proceedings with growing amusement. Ah, how times changed... the young Goldrider, the conscientious Healer, advocating breaking the rules in a major way? Lovely. The dark-haired girl shook her head, smirk on her lips. "Dyana may be a hard woman to find any dirt on. She keeps her nose clean. And if you ask A'gehri, you'll likely get the hide skinned from your back before you're allowed in the air again."

We could find a way, Bextwoleth noted distantly. After all, we may know nothing of Dyana, but we know something that could prick A'gehri to action...

The girl chuckled darkly, remembering witnessing a more-than-ill lavender-rider flitting worriedly about the weyr. Surely the brownrider might be more willing to assist if she used that little fact against him...

~

Jaer'n and Jaenita were present as well, the latter shooting dagger-like glares across the barracks room at the mottled-gold's rider; arrogant little wherry, thought she was so smart. Well, she did have a point, the green weyrling admitted grudgingly, if only in the safety of her head. But Elanor's plan was a good one. Why should the other half-queen rider feel the need to put so damn much sarcasm into her questions.

Her twin was merely silent and musing, only the slight furrow of his brow displaying any concern about the potential danger of going between times. The bronze weyrling was always up for a new risk, a new adventure... and the young queenrider had a point. He'd hardly seen the Weyrwoman or the Weyrleader for a score of days, and lessons were progressing at a glacial pace. They needed action now.

Terrasa was starting to hate the gold riders attitude but the presence of J'red's hand on her arm kept her from losing her temper.
"There is still the problem of not hitting the time when the Weyr was in creation. Meaning unless we can all jump back far enough in time in this particular spot we will have to find a stop where there is noone at all." She said, her voice taking on a hard edge. Elenor may have be a gold rider but the rubidium rider would always have problems following others orders.

"Even if we do this we will be in trouble once we get back. There won't be anyway that the Weyrleaders won't notice the change in us from this little trip" J'red said. That was one thing he was worried about. He had thought about what would happen in a dragon rose within their set group but had pushed that aside. But the more important thing was what was going to happen to them when they came back.

"I'd like to think rationality will be successful, but yeah, there's a possibility of groveling." Elanor raised her eyebrows at Nadria, grinning in an entirely unmalicious way. "Do you want to be in charge of the groveling division, with our lovely Ava over here in charge of the blackmailing division?" She asked jokingly, then shrugged. "Honestly, Nadria, we'll just have to see what the initial reaction is before condemning the between idea, well, between."

Elanor rested a booted foot on the chair of her desk, studying Terrasa as she spoke. Surely the rubidium weyrling wasn't so sensitive to criticism that she was reacting to the B'stil idea being shot down? Ameth, Feyrieth lifted her head from the couch, nearly unseating a nearby Berlioz, and spoke discreetly to her rubidium clutchsister, the draconic equivalent of a whisper. You and your rider need not go. If she would prefer to stay back with those of our clutch who will not make the jump, she would no longer be bothered by having Nor-mine in her weyrling class. She closed her eyes halfway, satisfied that she had conveyed Elanor's point without drawing attention to the ruby rider in public.

"If you go between places, it's rare to end up leagues away from where you intended to come out," Elanor told Terrasa, rocking the chair back and forth "The same idea holds true for going between times. It is extremely unlikely we'd come out somewhere we didn't intend." Besides, if we had, someone would have seen us do it already, Feyrieth pointed out helpfully, though only to Elanor.

"We'll attempt to not do this on the down-low," Elanor told J'red, clasping her hands behind her back. "Exhausting the three channels already discussed... rational argument, groveling, blackmail..." she shrugged. "If that doesn't work, perhaps we would proceed in secret, but that's not a given. And if anyone isn't comfortable making such a journey without informing the Weyr leadership, they wouldn't be forced to go by any means. Unwilling participants are entirely what we don't need."

"Do I look like the groveling type?" The answering grin wasn't as cold as the words might suggest, mostly due to an actual sense of respect for the full queenrider - seeing the girl was willing to do something dangerous raised her estimation in Nadria's eyes. "Let the ones they think are sweet and innocent grovel, it'll do a better job," she added, green eyes flashing in an amused glance towards Mythril.

Bextwoleth nudged her hip, mottled-gold head offering both support and affection in her usual imperious way. Frankly, the dragonet was itching to go, to try this mad leap from time to time; she got bored just wandering around, following her rider to chores, doing lessons that left her mind dull and wanting more. And if people like that rubidium weyrling only wanted to argue, well, they could stuff between and stay there for all she cared.

"Honestly, J'red, do you think we're trying to get away with it unnoticed? Fighting dragons are needed enough that the Weyrleaders won't argue - and they won't exactly be able to reverse the trip once it's done." The dark haired female laughed, head tossed back, throat bared at the utter stupidity of some of her dragon's clutchmates. Honestly, she wouldn't mind at all if they decided not to come along.

Pleased when Elanor's speech echoed her sentiments, the girl sat back, catlike smile curving her full mouth. "Back to the blackmail concept - I may have some helpful information. Unproven, as of yet, but I can find out for certain. Shall I stick to that avenue in hopes of some help?"

"I don't think you quite got what I meant." Terrasa said, smirking at the gold rider. Ameth told her rider what the gold had told her an kept up her fake smile.
"If we weren't willing we wouldn't be here now would we." Terrasa said, looking Elanor in the eye. She wasn't going to let this opportunity slip by. Not to mention the faster their dragons grew up the sooner they themselves could leave.

J'red looked over at the molted gold rider, his face expressionless as he watched and listened to her. His grip on his cousin tighten as her hand moved quickly to her belt and grabbed her knife.

"I know they won't be able to undo it. That doesn't mean they won't try and force some sort of consequences on us. Also might want to watch yourself next time you decide to laugh. My cousin here has a sort of a temper and even though you are somewhat a gold rider, she won't be afraid to hurt you." J'red said calmly as his hand moved to take Terrasa off her belt.

"Though I may not like some of my weyrling classmates I will make this trip back. Just make sure you can get us to the right time." Terrasa said, glaring at Nadria then looking back to the full gold rider.

"Please...please stop fighting," Mythril protested, holding up her hands and standing between them. Aliaviath growled at the look she spied from Nadria, unafraid of her and the much larger dragons in the room, and attempted to push Mythi back to a sitting position. Mine, I do not like this discussion. Let us keep out of this. The Weyrling gave her a reassuring pat but stayed up. "There won't be any groveling, I don't think. I'm sure that Dyana is a reasonable woman, the blackmail is completely unnecessary -- "

Mimimine, what is blackmail?

Using bad words to threaten others, she explained. It's bad. Don't try to do it.

" -- but honestly...if we're going to do this then we have to all agree. If they see that we're divided on such a big decision then none of them will listen... Dyana lives on reason, I'm sure. If we give her good reason, like those Elanor's described, it shouldn't be too hard, right? We don't have to go through such underhanded lengths; it's irresponsible, and completely insulting to those we are trying to gain the trust of..."

{Guys, the Weyrlings are big enough for flying lessons. No dragons other than Feyrieth are going to comfortably fit or be invited in that room.}

Elanor met Terrasa's gaze coolly, with no trace of either challenge or retreat in her hazel eyes. "Tell me what you meant, then," she said softly, one hand wrapping around the other's wrist to keep from making unconscious fists. The gold weyrling did not remark on Terrasa's fake smile, not even to Feyrieth.

As the conflict between Nadria and her fellow weyrlings grew, Elanor stepped into the middle of the room, putting a hand on the protesting Mythril's shoulder. "J'red, Terrasa. If I sense another threat like that from either of you, I will make sure there are consequences far greater than whatever you're imagining the Weyrleader will do regarding suddenly ready-to-fight dragons. All of us... all of us are going to drop the prejudice and act our age or this isn't going to work."

She took her hand off Mythril's shoulder rather abruptly, arms akimbo. "I'd prefer if you didn't pursue it at the moment, Nadria. Like Mythril said, planning to undermine people before they've said 'no' is indeed underhanded."

She looked down at the short green weyrling, then at Nadria and Terrasa. "I think we ought to come up with a contract to this plan, one that satisfies everyone." She walked over to her desk and pulled out a hide and a charcoal stick. "Anyone want to set some conditions? We can negotiate if what works for some doesn't work for all."

"Consequences? You're afraid of consequences?" The mottled-gold rider's voice was turned low, heavy with amusement, and distinctly more dangerous than anything she'd already said, to anyone who knew the girl's temperament. "What are you afraid of? Extra chores? Firestone bagging? They cannot do anything to us. A little discipline won't kill anyone, and in fact it might help some of you." A clear, sharp gaze was shot at Terrasa, green eyes hard as stone. "And if she's threatening me, I don't care. Do you think I'm afraid? I'm no weak little girl." Her tone was utterly dismissive, even as she was backed by Bextwoleth's distant roar through the stone walls. The dragonet had temper problems; if anyone hurt Hers, she would rip them to shreds with her bare claws.

Mythril's worried tone drew her out of the confrontation, and she turned with a light sigh, as though upset about not being able to get into a fight. Frankly, she wouldn't mind it. Nadria, like her dragon, was itching for action. "Whatever you say, Elanor. I trust your judgment. But keep in mind that we may need to resort to something other than reason - all of you remember that." Her glare encompassed the room, and faded as she glanced back towards the Healer, their de facto leader.

~

From the corner the bronze weyrling spoke up, pushing himself away from his twin with a slightly concerned frown as he headed towards Elanor, thinking this contract would be quite a good idea - otherwise, they were going to kill each other. Jaer'n was only glad that Jaenita was holding her tongue, not getting involved.

"Honestly? We really ought to make a peace pact of sorts. Too many hot tempers in one venture... we can't afford to lose anyone, " he said earnestly, brushing a swift hand through his curly hair. "Arguments are all well and good, but the threats of violence... we need all the dragons, all the riders. Regardless of who doesn't like whom." The normally amiable lad was frowning now, though carefully keeping his gaze away from Terrasa and Nadria.

((Sorreh, RK. I just had Alia in there in my first post and no one said anything. X'D I figured she was small enough to fit.))

Mythril was startled when Elanor placed a hand on her shoulder, but held her ground and listened. She didn't like the fighting that was beginning to brew in the room -- not at all. As soon as she heard the words 'contract' and 'negotiate', however, a little piece of her breathed a sigh of relief and she sat, liking this idea a lot better. She could feel her little Green relax a bit and the mirror effect bounced back to her as she sighed, looking about the room with watchful eyes. The atmosphere of the room was so tense she was sure that whatever blade tried to cut it would break under the tenacity of the fist holding it and the force pushing back. A small frown twitched in the corners of her mouth.

"I agree with Jaer'n. We should also put 'no backing down'," she said, in response to Elanor's question. "Once one signs it they're bound to this group and will support it in every way possible."

This was essential, in her mind. So was the next part.

"And...no secrets."

Elanor nodded vigorously at Jaer'n's suggestion. "Definitely. I think having a neutral moderator between any argument, no matter the size, would cover that. As well as, you know, the generic 'no violence, no threats, no weapons beyond belt knives' thing that we're used to from candidacy on up."

"Guys, don't be afraid to correct me if there's an item you can't agree to, and keep the suggestions coming." As she scribbled, she looked down at Mythril and shook her head briefly. "If someone decides they don't want to go before we've left, for whatever reason, they shouldn't have to. I do think that would work really well modified, though. Once we're in a different time, we're shelling well going to stay there and support the effort. Besides, for most dragons, who don't really know how to picture when well, it's downright dangerous to desert and forge a trail alone."

She pursed her lips at Mythril's next comment as well. "What sort of secrets are we talking?" she asked, though she jotted the suggestion down anyway. "I mean, there's a difference between secrets and discretion. There are certain things nobody wants to hear shared. What would be the purpose of the 'no secrets' rule?"

Still in the doorway, Berlioz shrank back against the wall slightly, making a small face behind Mythril's back at the suggestion, as if she might be sick.

"In relation to the group and this jump," Mythril clarified. "If there is a problem that only one of us is aware of then it's only fair to speak to rest of the jump group. Basic things, really. I wasn't implying much." She frowned. "It might be a bit much to ask, but... all I'm supposing are that the key parts to all of this are consideration and honesty. That's all."

A little dark Brown firelizard poked its near-black head out of the bag slung on her slight shoulder and chirred a little, as if confirming the statement, though Mythril highly doubted her knew and understood what she had said. She stroked his head gently. "Hush, Nemo." Feeling eyes on the back of her neck, the Weyrling looked back and saw Berlioz, frowning a little.

"Haven't you got anything to anything to say? Ava?"

She was tempted to say 'Berlioz', but caught herself in time. Call it a feeling, but that probably wasn't a very good idea.

Jaer'n responded with a relieved smile to Mythril's backing of his idea and Elanor's prompt and enthusiastic agreement; he'd almost though he would be jumped on for daring to put a stop to the violence, but the mottled-gold weyrling only gave him a short, considering look. Frankly, he'd worry about her temper over the rubidium-rider's, as Nadria could do more damage in the long run.

"Can't say I disagree with anything you ladies have laid out," he said with a return to his agreeable grin, shooting the good-natured expression all around the room.

"I can," spoke up a quieter voice; Jaenita had finally found her tongue, it seemed. "I mean, I agree with Elanor - what good would be enforcing a no-secrets policy? I would think if it were in regards to the group, it wouldn't be a secret. More of an... observation, or something." The green weyrling looked more than a little apprehensive at the thought of being forced to spill any secrets she might have, especially once Ehilyth got closer and closer to maturing. That would just be downright dangerous, at least in her mind... the green had quite the emotional nature.

"Consequences don't mean much to us. We don't care either way. Its not like we are going to be staying here for the rest of our lives." J'red said, as he look at Terrasa. He really didn't want to have to leave anytime soon because she made another threat and hurt someone.

"I didn't mean that we wouldn't end up where we wanted to be. All I meant is that we have to make sure that the time we chose is a time when there is noone at all in the spot. So incase we can't go back far enough the first jump we would need a first stopping location." Terrasa said, her mouth twitching as she tried to remain calm. She did however move her hand off her dagger hilt.

"We do get to bring our weapons for hunting don't we and defense against outside sources. Right?" J'red asked, making sure he was correct on this. "Just not on anyone among us." He had moved over near Elanor and looked down at the list.

Tahki stood quietly, watching the proceedings. Since Impression, she had kept her distance from the other weyrlings despite Gladeth's urgings to be more friendly. Tahki just didn't want to get involved in the fighting she saw between the weyrlings, and she wanted to focus all her attention on Gladeth.

Maybe going on this trip will encourage you to make friends, Gladeth said. She was all for this timing adventure. The Weyr needed dragons, and the faster they grew up, the better! Tahki smiled, shaking her head slightly. Gladeth wasn't going to rest until she had a pack of girlfriends to giggle and gossip with!

She spoke after J'red. "And we'll need to have definite responsibilities. People to hunt, because we'll need food, maybe people to be guards. Everyone has to know what their job is."

"Which is why everyone should have a say in things, too," J'las said, rising from his seat on the floor. "New rule: No tyrants. I like what we have going now, with everyone pitching in. It wouldn't be good if someone started to take over the whole thing."

Terrasa looked over at Tahki and smiled. Now that was a good idea. Give people set work chores for while they were on the trip.

"J'red and I could do the hunting. We've lived from the forest on and off. That or be guards." Terrasa said, nudging her cousin who just grunted. They had been wandering Pern for the last four years since J'red's parents had died. That consisted of them living in the forests and off the land as they moved. She also just didn't want to be stuck with cleaning or preparing the food.