Wings tired? Or you just want to feel solid earth beneath your paws...

Central Bowl
Seven spindles brush the clouds -- quite literally -- overhead, a jagged, spired cotillion grey-stoned majesty. The bowl from here is expansively large, extending a full half mile in both directions, and although sometimes a bit of a stretch, most of the hubs of activity can be easily observed. Hard-packed ground shows the common pathways, all of them meandering about the craggy bunch of boulders that form a centerpiece: carven, hand-worn and foothold-full, it gives a bit of centerpoint to the otherwise vast emptiness of the area. To the north lie the hatching grounds and leadership weyrs, while the lows of herdbeasts mark the feeding pens to the northeast. A flurry of ever-present activity marks the living caverns to the west, and another time-traveled path the ground weyrs just adjacent to the southwest. Southeast, a glint of blue shows the lake, glittering and cold.
It is a summer midmorning. The sky is a deep clear blue, and as the sun ascends, it begins to get hot. Only a faint breeze stirs, offering little solace from the bright sun.
Pyrene is here.

Down you go! Just mind the sharp dragon-elbow, there.
Treneere tries not to bump 'gainst any sharp joints as she slides down Alymath's forearm.

Lis hops down from Alymath's side, watching Treneere carefully to make sure the girl doesn't need any assistance. Satisfied as she makes it down in one piece, the greenrider hovers at the Trenny's side with an all-too-bright beam. "So, what did you think of the constellations? I managed to paint the ones I could still remember... Pyrene!" A greeting is interjected, and the greenrider flaps an arm at the goldrider.

Pyrene is trekking through the bowl on... business until she spots Alymath landing bearing not only Lis, but also Treneere. "Trenny? Are you pestering the riders again?" she asks, scolding. "Lis is going to have a baby, y'know... You should leave her alone." Better yet, weyrlinmasters should leave Lis alone.

Treneere looks happy as any contented bovine. "Just spec...spec. Whatever the word is. Very lecherous." Nevermind that Tren doesn't know any constellations. Stars are neat. Never quite the same, and all. "Pestering?" She sounds disgusted at Pyrene's question, hailing with a halfhearted wave. "Nope. Just talking. And of course she's gonna have a baby. We're going to call her Tirrybenagil. Right, Lis?" She shoots this newest idea at the greenrider.

"Pretty name, but I think it's a bit of a mouthful, no?" Lis advises Treneere as kindly as she can - it's the umpteenth baby name she's had to discard since yesterday. "Oh, she's not pestering me, Pyrene. It was sort of my idea, and mostly hers. I don't mind." She'll just gliss over the part about her constellations being lecherous.

Pyrene doesn't hae much to say to that. "Tirry... I, er, Oh, shells. Trenny, don't give Lis any ideas. I'm going to have to speak to Tyara about you again. In fact, maybe I should tell Mum and Dad. Cadge can take you home in a moment, you know." The old threats are the best.

"Mouthful? Nah. You'll just have to chew a bit more, Lis." Trenny makes a gleeful little sound in the back of her throat, that probably sounds more like coughing than anything else. She's been practicing, but it hasn't helped much. "No, Cadge can't. And Tyara won't care."

Lis steps back towards Alymath as the green whines a protests about her riding straps, informing Pyrene, "Anyway, she's not under Tyara's care anyhow. I'm fostering her." With this, she ducks next to her lifemate, stepping out of chaos that will surely ensue when this reaches Pyrene's ears. Funny how slowly she's unbuckling those straps, isn't it?

Pyrene is about to chew out Treneere for impertinence when Lis' words leave her speechless. Her mouth opens and shuts in an excellent imitation of a packtail, before she finally, weakly, asks her sister: "/What/???"

Treneere makes that noise again. With slightly more shrillness. "What she said. I'm fostered. I /told/ you I was staying forever, didn't I?" Gleam.

Pyrene makes some bizarre quivering movements with her shoulders before finally managing to answer coherently. "But Lis /can't/ foster you! She's hardly responsible... It's not right! Her and Alymath!" She should probably be saying this to Lis and not Trenny, but well, she's had a shock.

Treneere doesn't even blink, but instead leaps valiantly to fostermom's defense. Literally. She jumps a few inches in the air, landing in proper dusty-stirring energy. "Who needs 'sponsible? Mom'n'Dad were 'sponsible. Blegh." Nose wrinkles. "Lis is fun. And her weyr's neat. And...and...and her dragon's /pretty/." Baleful eye to Cadgwith.

Pyrene stares at Treneere and grimaces. "Mum and Dad weren't responsible, they were stupid." And blegh. Very much so. "Alright. So you're going to be fosterd by Lis. And what are you going to do when Alymath is proddy?" Insults to Cadgwith are ignored, just, although there's a twitch of dozing golden hide.

Treneere still has all these glorious stories in her mind about proddiness, involving purple dragons and firelizard costumes. Any normal kid would've learned something in almost two years in a weyr. "Watch happily, of course," she says with glee. "It sounds like fun."

Pyrene just stares some more. "/Watch/? Lis will use you as some bizarre--ugh. I don't want to think like that. Fine... go ahead and be fostered. But don't say I didn't warn you." And Pyrene will have a private word with Lis later.

Lis returns from beside Alymath, having taken plenty of time to remove those straps - and overhear the conversation between Pyrene and Treneere. "Now, Pyrene, there's nothing to worry about. True, I haven't really raised older children, but I'm doing pretty well with Donis, no?" She steps up beside her fosterling, curving a proprietary arm around the girl's shoulder.

Treneere still has all these glorious stories in her mind about proddiness, involving purple dragons and firelizard costumes. Any normal kid would've learned something in almost two years in a weyr. "Watch happily, of course," she says with glee. "It sounds like fun."

"I won't, then," sniffs Trenny. Not unless life would be made better by her saying that Pyrene /did/ warn her. Whatever. She'll worry about all that when she's famous. "'Sides. She's doing fine with Donis. Not exactly great conversation, but he'll get there." And she just bets he'll ride blue, too. Just to irk Pyrene.

Pyrene grumbles in Lis' direction. "Donis is a baby. He's too young to be scarred. Besides which he's the son of D'renn... there's no hope for him anyway. Tren... are you /sure/ about this?" And the looks that she's shooting Lis are rather on the protective side.

Lis simply rolls her eyes at the mention of D'renn and his offspring, only protesting, "He's really not /that/ bad." She cuts in with her own answer to Pyrene's question, however. "Pyrene! She /agreed/ to it. Of course, Trenny, if you don't like it, you're free to back out. For a while, anyway. Afterwards, no running away to the nannies just because I won't let you eat sweets for dinner." See? Parental responsibility.

Treneere peers, quizzical at Pyrene. "Why do you care too much? I thought you hated me." Besides--not only did she agree to it, she had been aiming for it in the first place. There's a moment's abashed disappointment--"No sweets for dinner?"--before she reasons. "It'd get dull after a while, anyhow. Of course I won't back out." Not unless D'renn offers to foster her. Him and those raspberry leathers. Not likely, but she'd jump at the chance.

Pyrene glares at Treneere. "Because you're my sister and Mum and Dad will have my hide if you dont' grwo up normal." Not that Treryn and Polperro appear to have been doing the best of jobs with the girl prior to her arrival at Reaches. "But you /will/ take responsibility Lis? Even when proddy?"

Why does Pyrene have to go for the prickly points? "I've managed Donis, haven't I? Trenny can spend the day with Thiyo when Alymath wants to go up... just like he does." Peering down at the girl in question, the greenrider queries, "That sound alright?" It's much harder to parent people who can protest back with a logic opinion. [Lis]

Not to mention Trenny can do polls. "Only if Thiyo's got red hair and purple eyes, and rides a gray dragon," proclaims the girl with finality. "Otherwise, proddy'll be more fun." Definately a one-track mind, there.

Pyrene glares at Treneere. "You'll go with Thiyo or with me, young lady. And none of your cheek. You're /honoured/ to be asked by Lis to be fostered and don't you forget it." Funny thing, but nobody ever wanted to foster Pyrene when she was a weyrbrat.

Lis is about to protest that it's not honor, really, but snaps her jaw shut in time to save this card to be played someday. Probably when Treneere enters her petulant teen phase. "Maybe when you're older, Trenny," the greenrider promises in girl's ear, always willing to dangle a carrot just out of reach. "You'll love Thiyo. She spoils kids rotten with cookies and sweets..."

Treneere considers at least some of Pyrene's threats valid. "Fine. Thiyo." Sulkily, she accepts the notion of cookies and sweets, and is done with that argument. She's loathe to even acknowledge sister correct in the overall honour of it all, but nods a few times. "Right, right. You're right. /Sorry/." Besides, the promise of later adventures is enough to satisfy her.

Pyrene is somewhat taken aback. Hey, she actually cowed her sister. Sort of. "Fine then...." she concedes having nothing else to say. "And Lis, I don't want any people spending the night with you while Treneere's there. And nor are you going to spend the night with anybody else and leave Treneere alone in the weyr. Got that?" Ooh. Ground rules.

"Now, why couldn't you have been more like your sister, Pyrene?" Lis coos sweetly, unable to resist a dig on the goldrider, after that insult of her parenting technique. "But, /Pyrene/!" whines the greenrider most childishly. "I c can't just... not /all/ the time!" She's Alymath's rider after all.

And a sad little sigh can be heard from across the Weyr, the sound of hundreds of riders sobbing in unison... Such a cruel little goldrider...

Treneere is curious here, eyeing Pyrene in befuddlement. "Why can't she have friends over? I don't know many riders. I should. I should be able to meet her friends. Why can't they come over?" Repeated, babble-fast.

Pyrene takes this in her stride. "Because Lis does boring stuff with her friends that she'd leave you out of, and I want to make sure she takes fostering seriously. She needs to pay attention to you /all/ the time now." And she gives Lis the smuggest of looks.

Lis glares evilly at Pyrene as she curses solemnly, "I hope Cadgewith never rises. Or clutches, either." Ouch. "Of course, now I have /plenty/ of time to spend with Treneere since I'm confined to the weyr. Though... I think Ditzee's got a daughter your age now. You two could get together sometime." And thus relieving the greenrider of a charge. A smirk is cast back to Pyrene - hah. She found a loophole.

Treneere considers Pyrene's argument. "But couldn't I help make it interesting? Lis doesn't do /anything/ boring, anyhow. I bet she has a whole plague of fun with her friends." Trenny doesn't need to be fostered to be scarred. She was born scarred. "Don't say that, Lis. Pyrene doesn't want Uglydragon to rise. A friend?" Oooh. Aaah.

Pyrene looks stung. And hurt. "How /dare/ you," she hisses at Lis. "Leave Cadgwith out of this... she's never done anything to you! And don't you dare call her ugly, little miss I'm-fostered, else you /will/ be going back home again, and for all I care, Lis can go with you!"

The Pandora's box the weyrwoman opened was entirely her fault, as far as Lis is concerned - she tried to take away the greenrider's favorite past time. "Now, now, Pyrene... Treneere's not yours to threaten and abuse anymore." That's Lis' job now. "I'm quite sorry about your 'predicament', as always."

Pyrene glares at Lis. "She's my sister whoever fosters her, and I don't want you messing her up. Besides, it's about time you learned to control yourself before Donis gets that old." There's only so far she can go though without scarring Treneere herself, so she quietens and just settles for glaring at them both by turns.

Treneere isn't the least bit fazed. Well, maybe a bit. She gulps, certainly, and wilts just a tad before pulling herself together. "Everyone calls her ugly. It's not fair for you to yell at just me." Be diplomatic. Yell at everyone. "Besides. You /did/ say you didn't want her to rise. Or maybe you just turned pale and fainted when I mentioned it. So why are you all hissy now?"

"That is /not/ any of your business. At least /my/ dragon isn't defective," growls Lis, not exactly being the best figure of authority for Treneere at the moment. Lips curl into a decided snarl, lingering menacingly; she hasn't had this much animosity since she first met Quara.

Pyrene trembles to a point that Cadgwith rouses, eyes flashing violet with concern. "Cadgwith is /not/ defective..." the goldrider snarls. "Which is more than I can say for some people's dragons. Anyway, as long as Trenny's my sister, her upbringing /is/ my business. But I'm not going to stay here and upset her. Get on with it your way then... but I'll be keeping an eye on you." Once a nanny--always a child-care expert. At any rate, without another word, Pyrene's on Cadgwith and heading back to her weyr.