Menari sat at the table and drummed her fingers. She was idly listening to the table behind her where several gentlemen were sitting. People in her occupation usually did. She had been sitting in the same place for three candlemarks with nothing to show for her patience or hard work. She was just about to leave when a something one of the men said caught her attention.
“They said they were holdless. I didn’t believe them, so I just went on my way as fast as I could. For all I knew they were going to try to rob me. I didn’t even look back.”
At the last sentence, Menari groaned. When would these ignorant holders realize that it was important to take note of appearances. It would make her job so much easier. Then she mulled over what little he had said. “Holdless” and “robbers” were prominent in her memory. She hated to think about people like that but they were the reason she had a job at all. She had been a guard at Aneris Hold since it had opened. Lord Fedar and Lady Lirina had hired for several reasons. Not the least of which was the fact that she had very dark skin that made her hard to see at night. She was also very large in stature for any woman on Pern, so Menari had the intimidation factor in her favor. She was also very stealthy and knew when to make allies and when to consider someone an enemy.
She was very good at her job and often enlisted her two fire-lizards for help. They were a brown, Tarzimal and surprisingly enough a gold, Dorada. The eggs had been given to her after she had uncovered a plot by one of the Lord Holder’s sons to oust his father and take over.
Menari readjusted her black hood and prepared to leave the dining chamber. She always wore a hooded black cloak to hide her one distinguishing feature. Menari had a mane of white hair.
As she exited the chamber, her two flits landed on her shoulders. Dorada and Tarzimal were not recognized by any one at Aneris Hold. They spent most of their time sunning or scouting for Menari.
"Hello. Did you find out anything," she asked in a controlled alto. She had many years practice of not revealing her emotions. If she revealed too much emotion than her guard work and especially her spying reports would give too much away about what was truly going on and how she was involved in it.
Dorada chirruped and sent her the image of the men in the dining hall. She had been sitting in the rafters watching. Tarzimal sent her feelings of warmth and a vision of the beach where he had been watching one of Lord Holder Fedar's sons and a young lady have a conversation. The brown also sent her a variety of feelings from the pair. Menari smiled, "So that's what Lidra and Ferdin were up to." She would have a very interesting story to relate to the Lord and Lady Holder.
Menari yawned. It had been a satisfying day of work and decided it was time for bed. She headed up the stairs to her room. Tomorrow would be another hard day.
The guard woke up early the next morning as usual and decided that she would scout out the area where the holdless had been seen. She fed Dorada and Tarzimal before heading out with a small pack of provisions and a skin of water. Menari had a long walk ahead of her.
Being about 6'2", Menari made very good time. Her father used to joke about her height with phrases like "her legs go from the ground up to her butt, then they get a little cheeky." She laughed at the thought of Henso. He had always been a good father even though his attempts at wine were pitiful. Her mother Sehari had laughed at the two of them. She loved to watch her only child and her spouse. Complications from Menari's birth, due in part to her large size, had left Sehari unable to have anymore children. Menari had always felt a little guilty about that. She knew how desperately her mother had wanted a large family and at least one son for Henso. She sighed at the thought. She had left them when she had 18 turns to explore Pern a little. She had come to Aneris at 23. That had been a turn ago.
Menari looked up to check the sky. It was about a candlemark before nooning. Something else on the horizon caught her eyes. A patch of silver gray clouds was headed toward her. Thread! The guard remained calm and hurriedly looked for a cave nearby. She spotted one in a mountain to her left and ran as fast as her long legs could carry her.
She made it and took a deep breath to refill her lungs. As Menari looked around the cave she saw something peculiar. There was a small dragon of strange color looking at her from a ledge. She looked mostly green, but there was a distinctly gold tint to her hide.
"Welcome to Baeris Healing Den," a voice said from behind her.
Menari whirled around to see a woman dressed in purple with a blue flit on her shoulder. She guessed this was the woman in charge. "Hello," she replied her strong alto echoing in the cavern.
"Did you come to stand for our clutch?"
"Excuse me?"
"Here at the Healing Den we take eggs from special dragons to hatch here on our Sands. We have ten from a special dragon flight frenzy right now. It was quite the sight to see. Dulath," she pointed up to the green-gold,"thinks you should stand for our eggs."
"Well Thread is going to be falling for several hours. I'll stay here until then. If your dragon thinks I should stand, I'll be back for the Hatching. Okay?"
"Perfect,"Baeris replied.
**~~**~~**~~**
Menari smiled as she bathed her violet blue Adherath. He wass a small sneaky male who blended in with the shadows and couldn't be seen at night. He was perfect for her snooping and undercover work. Her two fire-lizards darted over head helping and scratching the dragon as the former guard washed his dark hide under Pern's two moons. Her white hair sparkled and her dark skin was barely visible. Adherath wasn't able to be seen either. Only Menari's hair and flits gave away that anyone was on the beach at Aneris Weyr.
The tall woman had no problems reaching some of the higher places on her beast with the long brush she always used. The dragon crooned his pleasure. As she scrubbed him, she thought.
"It had been quite a while since Adherath had participated in a flight. He'd been in two at his birthplace. Two frenzies that had been very interesting for his rider, but Menari found herself wanting something perhaps a bit more permanent, or at least less hectic. Perhaps a normal flight.
"She had heard that many dragons were rising at Ryslen weyr. Among them was green Kalkt. Her rider Quilyre had hair the same color as Menari's. The pair had impressed at Vella Crean. Menari wondered if perhaps Adherath would be interested in flying the green. Menari herself wasn't very picky about her partners. She enjoyed both men and women in a flight though she certainly had a preference for men.
All too aware of what a male having a green dragon meant, Menari doubted that Quilyre would be interested in her. She knew R'del had no desire for any of the current riders at Aneris and sorely lacked for the human companionship he needed. The former guard hoped for his sake that Aneris acquired a few more male blueriders soon. Hopefully one that would suit her friend's tastes.
"What do you think, Adherath? Would you like to go to Ryslen and try to participate in one of the flights? I'm sure it won't be nearly as exciting for you as the frenzies, but I'm sure you'll have fun. What do you think?"
"The violet blue dragon turned his head to survey his rider. }:I'm sure, Kalkt is a fine green. I would like to try and catch her. All flights are exciting. We should go and try.:{
"Menari smiled and stroked the dark hide affectionately. "Then we'll head there on the next rest day to see what we can find out. Perhaps we can win this one."
The fire-lizards were adopted from Rohlen Hold.
