Prax:
Female
Age 20's or so
Pronghorn Gazelle
Strong willed and fairly smart, vocal and sensible about things.
Plays flutes, reeds, and sings
Bonded: Pastel Rainbow Univoqueruseth
Leevi:
Female
Age 18
Red Deer
More simpleminded than complex, worries a lot, but enjoys herself.
Plays laser keys, and several stringed instruments, vocals
Bonded: Yellow Green Lacinath
Enoi:
Male
Age 22
Snow Leopard
Quiet, observant and smooth, rarely bothered about anything.
Plays bass guitar
Bonded: Silver Blue Plath
Kmarks:
Male
Age 28
Black Lion
Brave, but not stupid, dependable, pleasant.
Plays drums of all kinds
Bonded: Copper Brown Vaillanth
Bhargol:
Male
Age 35?
River Otter
Bonded: Red Brown Gloutonth
The band's manager, a money fiend, consumed with greed most of his waking hours, and many of his dreams too.
Bonded: Red Brown Gloutonth
Male
Age ??
Black Panther
Bonded: Gold-Black flame Assassinezth
An assassin known for his supreme prowess and stealth, and also known for his expensive tastes in homes, art and the like.
"I think this will work right," Enoi said, plucking a slow solo on his bass, "what do you think?"
"I can work with that," Kmarks nodded, he chose to use hand-held drums for the piece they worked on, it gave the work a natural feel. Enoi contiuned his bass-playing, while Kmarks beat a rhythm. Leevi giggled, twirled through the room and sang a wordless tune along with them.
Outside, her yellow-green dragoness could be heard to sing along. Kmarks felt around with his foot and deftly tossed Leevi a tambourine so she could provide another sound as well.
"I like this one," Prax grinned while she chose a simple flute to accompany the others. They played for a brief while, to the delight of the servants who gathered outside the large multi-level den the group had been given.
"Twilight Delight," Enoi said, jotting down a series of notes on a paper, "does that sound like a good title?"
"Works for me," Prax said, tooting on the flute one last time before they quit.
From the ground, outside, their dragons gathered similarly. They had grown quite a bit since their hatching, but they could sense the restlessness in their bonds. The big flame colored dragon Assassinezth had moved on with his bond - the namesake of the band, Soverign Fate, several months ago. Everyone felt safer with them farther away.
However, this day they came back. In the eternal twilight at Utopian, a big dramatic flame-marked dragon swooped over the island and landed near the group of bandmembers' dragons. The black furred feline rider dropped to the ground, and even the dragons parted for him to move through their ranks.
"I would speak with you," he announced at the den's wide door, and everyone stopped playing. Moments before, their dragons had tried to warn them of the impending arrival, but had been gleefully ignored by the musicians.
"... About what?" Prax asked, standing and putting her reed flutes down.
"Actually," Soverign Fate looked at her with a wry twist on his eyes, "I needed to speak to the men. It isn't urgent, but I've learned about certain places which also breed dragons."
"There are tons of them," Kmarks said, not letting his grip on the smallish drum he held go. "Why would you come here to tell us that?"
"Because there are several which your dragons - and mine - might be well suited to mating at." Fate grinned inwardly at the expressions that garnered.
"Well... they are old enough," Enoi pondered. "And they have been acting annoying lately."
"Especially around the girl dragons," Leevi found it amusing, and was half-able to laugh. Fate still frightened her to no end.
Soverign Fate turned to Kmarks, "wouldn't you like to see your dragon and mine work out who's best?"
"There is no question," Kmarks said, baring his fangs and spine fur bristling, "that Vaillanth would be chosen. But you're on."
The others gave somewhat shocked expressions at this. Kmarks wasn't known to put anything on the line unless he really believed in it, so either his fear of Fate was less than anyone else's, or his dragon below was fluffing out and affecting his rider. That was very probably the case.
"These," Fate said, finally tearing his glowing eyes away from Kmarks', "are flights for multi-colored dragons. The females have been waiting for the right partners to show up." He looked back at Kmarks, "Our bold bonds might not even fly for the same one, so don't worry."
"Oh, I'm not worried." Kmarks insisted. "So, where are they?"
"A place called Tripaldi, they have a special secluded area where the bicolor females are waiting. I believe there are three of them."
"Well that's all very fine and well for the guys," Leevi said, "but what about us?"
"Yes, Fate, how about us?" Prax asked, blinking sweetly above a twisted grin, "you want to separate us?"
"No, no," he said, honestly. "Let me ask you something, to put this in perspective, young Prax." She nodded, so he continued. "When you first bonded, as I did, you felt everything that your dragon did. Their hunger, their tiredness, all of it."
"Uh huh," Prax said, and Leevi leaned on her hoofstock-friend.
"So what do you think a post-adolescent male dragon is thinking about?" Fate completed, and Enoi burst out laughing.
"Nothing but! All the time! What a hassle!"
The girls turned to him, and Leevi giggled. "No wonder the men of the hatching have been getting all... manly. It isn't as if their female counterparts have been making it any easier on them, either."
Prax nodded, "sure. But then still, what about us? Do we just go with you guys and wait?"
"Well I could hardly break up your band, now, could I?" Fate said, glancing around, "and where is that manager of yours?"
"Why?" Kmarks asked, "going to rough him up for some cash today?"
"Ah, so he told you about that, did he?"
"He did." Kmarks didn't look very pleased. "I suppose it could be arranged differently, more officially, but then we'd be held accountable for your actions, accessory to murder and that kind of thing."
"So you approve of my roughing up then?" Fate grinned, toothy.
"I don't," Bhargol muttered, coming in from the ledge outside with a winded-looking Gloutonth fanning his wings broadly. "But we could just as well use this as an excuse to get your lazy butts back on tour."
"Exactly," Fate said.
"Assassinezth can give your dragons the coordinates. If you don't want to follow him, there are charts and instructions on file here, I believe."
"Thanks," Kmarks said, turning to go find them. Enoi put his white paw on the drummer's shoulder and Kmarks grudgingly stopped.
"It's all right, we can follow him. Plath would have said something if you were planning on letting us drift through space or teleport into a volcano or something."
Fate looked a little confounded, as he said, "well actually most weyrs *are* in volcanoes... Only they're dormant or dead. They make excellent dragon housing."
Fortunately, more than one flight lay open. The whole time that the group were reading up on the females participating, Fate and Kmarks were jostling for a position that their lifemate would work best in. Of course, they both chose to sign up for the white-gold's flight.
The attendant of the flight zone came to see what the commotion was all about, as the group of six dragons landed in their special flight area.
"Well... what's all this about then! Calm down!" Deriam held up his hands and smacked the clipboard he had loudly. Everyone shut up. Leevi and Prax wandered away - this was none of their business, was it!
"Thank you," Deriam said. "I can tell you guys are ... excited to be participating, but you're not accepted yet, so just get settled in."
"What do you mean, not accepted yet?" Fate growled. The black feline bristled.
"I mean, you have yet to sign up and present your information. I can see that your dragons will be acceptable to the females, but whether or not they'll be allowed to fly is still in question. I must have you all fill some of these forms out..." He handed out a paper to the guys, and then cleared his throat again. "And, I need to know your dragons' origins."
"They are all from the Utopian Holiday clutch," Enoi said, "But there were a dozen dragons flying in the mating flight that laid those eggs. We've no idea who each dragon's parents are."
Deriam made a note, and grunted. "Go on." He ticked something, and Enoi got a worried look on his snow-white face.
"What do you mean, go on? I mean, there they are," he waved his paw, "everything about them is pretty obvious, don't you think?"
"Not completely..." Deriam said, squinting at the foursome of colorful dragons. "But I suppose that I can wheedle some information from them, if not from you." He glanced at the furry men, "please have those filled out by the time I get back."
"Sure... no problem," Bhargol said, examining the paperwork. It read like a medical questionare.
"I've seen easier tests taken at temporal-physics study halls..." Kmarks groaned. Fate put on a false grin, acting like he'd gotten the hang of all these questions more easily than the others.
"I tell you this," Enoi said. "One of our dragons had best win a flight here," he grumbled at Fate, "or your little money-collecting sham is over. You dragged us here, that's your gamble."
Taken by surprise at the snow-leopard's forward statement, Fate mulled it over. "... Well, if you insist. It will be more important to the dragons that they succeed, and they've got to be prepared. None of our dragons have had more experience in the field than any other - believe me, Assassinezth has been practicing, but we've not had any 'combat' lately."
"Even field," Kmarks said, "that sounds good to me." He looked at the sky, and saw a brilliant yellow-white flash. "Oh, so that's her, I bet..." He said of the lovely Ryslen born queen. "She is pretty. And fast, too. Our bonds'll be in for a ride, I think."
"So will we..." Fate said. "So will we..."
***
After the flights, and not one of their number had won - though some had come quite close - the "deal" that Fate had with the group was done. He was willing to admit defeat, Sovereign Fate was good for his bet.
However, he did attend a number of their concerts later on. A more formal arrangement? He would be willing to front a studio for them, if he could be cut in to their tour profits.
Bhargol pondered this for a week of prosperous touring. He was about to tell Fate "no" but then the whole bunch (back together after successful flights by the girls) demanded to do an album that could be released in whatever format local wares could handle.
So Fate and his namesake remain attached, and on slightly friendlier terms than before.
"Teleporting all this way really wore her out, though, look at both of them. They'd probably give these queens a good run for their money." Prax lovingly admired her rainbow colored dragoness as she lounged around near the lake below the ledges. The other dragons near by were all quite unusual too, two colors and odd combinations in their skin.
Those males will be annoying even after they chase, Uni spoke, and Prax laughed.
"You think so?" She said, "Or is it that you're getting into your maturity too?"
Leevi appeared to be having a similar conversation with Lacinath, "no wonder we've all been on our toes lately..."
Prax looked at her friend and they giggled, "horny women!" Of course since they both had horns (or at least, Prax did) the joke was even funnier.
I'll try not to get too much in your way, when I want to fly, okay Leevi?
"You'll be fine. I wonder where we ought to sign up, if they want to mate? I mean, this is a good place for the guys, I'll admit that." Leevi looked around and waved her hoof-hand, "all the pretty two-tones. But yours... Sheesh, Uni's got all the colors of the rainbow, so I wonder if there's a place for her specially?"
"I don't know. But Lacinath's got just as much spunk and she's almost twice as fast. She'll have to have some really quick males after her." Prax pondered.
You two could start looking - the guys will be here for a while, but why do we have to stay?
"What, at Utopian?" Leevi asked, trying to remember who she was talking about.
"Several of them were from one place and they said they found Danach through a big network they could tap into, like a dragon internet..." Prax tapped her hoof-finger against her high cheek.
There are a couple of them here right now, for the flights, Lacinath pointed out.
"Really?" Leevi asked, "could you ask them how to get there?"
The girls waited, and shortly came the response, We travel in the darkness and come out at this place. She imagined a beautiful green island surrounded by reefs and azure waters, head to the mountain isle, and that's where we'll find the chambers we're looking for.
The other dragon tells me that there is another place, but it's not taking any flights just yet. They have a swim - how clever.
"Then we should tell the guys and get going. If they're going to be here a while." Said Prax, brushing off her dusty fur and glancing back up at the tall entry ledge above.
"Aren't we going to be playing a gig?" Leevi asked, "I mean that's how we're going to be making money right?"
"Well, if that lion of ours puts his dragon to work," Prax said of Kmarks and Vaillanth, "we won't have to worry about Fate blackmailing us any more." They started up the side of the hill to find the men. "And anyway, we'll be headed to a dragon nexus. If they can't transport us there and back for gigs, there's something wrong!"
The trip to Alskyr was shorter than that from their hatching world to Tripaldi, but then it was still quite long. Cold blackness surrounded the pair and their bold dragons, and they came out of it over a warm, bright island.
There it is, the smaller mountain on the south. That little island is where we will find our place.
They announced themselves, telling the watch dragons and their riders that they'd come referred by T'roy and N'ris. The pair landed on the wide ledge at the top of the mountain, and were greeted by several important looking men and women.
"So you're seeking a flight for, what, both females?" Said one man, his mop of silver hair falling cutely over his forehead.
"That's right," Prax said, "Univoqueruseth and Lacinath."
"They don't have to be in the same place," Leevi suggested, "we don't want to be competing for each other's mates, do we?" She winked and Prax giggled.
The attending group led the animal-morphs into the hillside and to a room filled with computers.
"I didn't think that many places like this had electricity let alone computers..." Prax said, looking around.
"They don't," Hollis said, "this isn't really the same place you were just at. Don't ask, it's rather mind-bending."
"I won't..." Leevi assured them. Prax was curious but more so about where her lovely rainbow dragoness was going to be flying.
After a minute or more, Hollis tossed his hand into the air, and said, "Prax, I think we've got a good place for your rainbow. It's another Nexus site, called Ryslen Weyr. Very good, strong sands. We've had a number of very successful riders fly there."
Prax looked over the images of dragons from there, and the image of the weyr itself, smiling. "I think that's a great looking place. How about you, Leevi?"
"I think it's perfect for you. I ... I think we're going to wait a little, though." She looked a little disappointed, perhaps at her own slight fearfulness of joining a strange weyr for a flight, but also perhaps because she really was a bit jealous of Uni's amazing colors.
"No, you don't have to wait," said a woman, coming up with a paper print out. "Vella Crean's a good place, there's a short waiting list, but it's shorter than Ryslen's and their sands are just as interesting."
"This isn't a competition, Cherry," Hollis muttered. Outside, his great bronze dragon bellowed something and Cherry laughed - apparently he allowed the odd looking woman to listen in on his conversations with his rider.
"Sure it is, H'lis, and don't you forget it." She turned back to Leevi, "Now, Vella Crean's had many new kinds of dragons come from their sands. You might not even recognize them when they hatch. Fun!"
I just want a good male that can keep up with me, Lacinath announced.
And I wish for a mate that will compliment my coloration - somehow... Uni pondered somewhat hopelessly.
"We'll find you a plaid dragon, sweetheart," Prax called out, and everyone laughed.