Looking for a Queen (Merda Please)

[E]

Malekith called out to the watchdragon as he dropped altitude into the bowl of Sodalis Weyr. He was surprised at his riders decision to finally find an ally outside of his own wing and one from Sodalis at that. But then again, who better than the senior gold rider Merda herself? The enormous bronze had agreed with the discussion even though it had shocked him slightly.

Ask the senior queen if Merda is within. And please, try to be polite.
Trust me, I know how to handle the golds.
I wonder about that at times. You have not yet caught one.
Why catch one when I can woo them all?
Now your just making excuses.
Don?t tempt me, E?mion.

The Wingleader laughed at his bronze as the two touched down in the bowl. Looking around, E?mion found himself impressed with the weyr; he was every time he came. To think that it could resemble those in the North so closely. The only real difference between the Northern Weyr?s and this one was the size. Sodalis was nearly three times larger than most Northern ones.

Caliath, lovely queen, are you and yours available this fine morning? My rider wishes to speak to yours and I would very much adore your company if even for a short time.

[Memorie]

Indeed, young Malekith. Merda requests that You and Yours come up to our ledge. Caliath had given a draconic chuckle at the large bronze's subtle compliments. He's silly. And young, Merda, the Gold told her rider.

"Yes, so you have yet another wooer. But I imagine you hold your graces only for Beodith?" Merda asked, sending fond thoughts toward the dragons. Caliath hummed.

Yes, of course. Malekith is a fine young dragon though. Maybe we should invite him to the next flight, she teased.

"Maybe, but I think Kyparla might have issues with that. And I sense that this is the time when the Weyrs need not to have unbalance and ill will. We shall see what E'mion says."

[E]

Hearing the reply from the queen, the bronze thanked her and lept into the air making way for the ledge indicated just as his rider had unbuckled his riding straps. Grabbing hold quickly he cursed outloud at his dragon.

You could have bloody warned me!
Its not my fault you were in a rush.
Damn Wherrie?

As Malekith landed, he literally threw his rider from his shoulder, no longer in the mood to put up with the man. Remaning on the very edge of the ledge, he looked away, refusing to even acknowledge that the bronzer actually belonged to him. E?mion picked himself up, glaring back at the bronze as he brushed himself off and started to take off his riding gloves as he began to walk into the weyr before stopping just at its threashhold and turning to bow to the golden queen laying on the ledge where Malekith had landed.

?I?m sorry he?s a little temperamental this morning.? He said before turning and walking into the weyr. ?Merda? May I request audience??

[Memorie]

Caliath trilled at the bronze's antics. She moved her bulk aside so he could land and lay with her if he liked to. "I'm sorry, he's a little temperamental this morning."

It's fine. she told him, eyes whirling with a good-natured color. Good morning, Makekith. It is good to see you again.

"Merda? May I request an audience?"

"Of course, E'mion. Please, come in. I have klah and sweetbread." The woman had barely risen out of bed. She found that she liked to sleep a little later than usual, and she also found that no one bothered her for it. She moved to the table, wrapping her dressing gown more tightly around her. Luckily, in the mountains, it stayed a decent temperature all year round, only dropping a few degrees as winter approached. "Have a seat at my table, if you like." She sat. "So, what brings a Lateo Wingleader to Sodalis on an Autumn day?"

[E]

It is good to see you as well, golden Caliath. How have you been faring dear one? the bronze asked politely as he finally settled down near the gold now that his rider was out of view. He was careful not to lay to closely as he did not know where her Bronze was, but close enough to be in her company. Not that the ledge would offer much more than that.


?Thank you Merda, but I have already eaten.? He said taking a seat across from her at the table as she positioned herself better in the robe. ?I?ve come to ask a favor of you, as both a friend and as the Helios Wingleader.?

Malekith. Where is J?ren and his? Is anyone near the queens weyr?
Only the four of us.

[Memorie]

Oh, much the same as usual. But I feel a change in the wind. Something exciting is going to happen, and soon. She rumbled. It's been a while since I had any adventure.

"Okay." The woman sipped from a cup of klah. "And what favor would that be, E'mion?" She was pleased that he considered her a friend. That showed trust. "J'ren is out hunting, so take all the time you need to explain. He'll be half the day," she said, smiling.

[E]

E'mion smiled almost crookedly wondering if the woman had any idea as to what he was up to. Certainly he was going to tell her a small picture, but the masterpiece... That was something only he knew. The only other men alive who could fathom the majority of it was the MasterHarper himself and his wingsecond S'hon had a good portion of it.

"Merda, I love how you get right to the point." He said loosing his smile as he thought briefly about how to word what he wanted to say. He had run thru the speech several times the night before, but no words came to him now. E'mion found himself being rather blunt.

"I need flit eggs. About two clutches for a total of sixty eggs. At least one needs to be wild." He said simply as he tucked his ridding gloves into his jacket pocket. "I was wondering if you could help me locate such a clutch and perhaps not be able to tell anyone of it. The tame clutch will be harder. Flits are popular and clutches rarely go unnoticed but I thought a senior Weyrwoman might be able to pull it off. It is very important to me that nobody notices the disappearance of these eggs."

[Memorie]

Merda gave the younger man a long, hard look. She was no fool, and certainly not to be had, and there had to be a reason why he needed so many eggs. If he wanted one or two, she'd chalk it up to personal gain. But sixty? Of course she'd be able to find them, but she wanted to know why. "I may help you," she told him, still squinting at him. "But I want to know why you need so many. If it were a few...I'd not ask questions. But sixty, my friend?"

She sipped her klah, favoring the bitter taste in her mouth. She rarely added much sweetener, preferring not only the stimulant to wake her, but the taste as well. She set the cup down and picked up a piece of sweetbread. Her headwoman did make the best. Still, Merda was glad she sent the apprentices to Lateo to learn--new knowledge only benefitted her Weyr. She would help the man, she knew, even if he didn't tell her why he needed so many eggs. She began to think of who had a gold flit--one had risen a couple sevendays ago. She'd clutch in the next couple days, if she hadn't already, and a sevenday after that, the eggs would Hatch. "What sort of time frame do you need these eggs in?" she asked, cutting him off before he explained why he needed sixty firelizard eggs.

[E]

tter. Its correct that they take a seven-day to harden right? I don't even know if that will be enough." Sighing he sat back in his chair again and ran his hand thru his hair that was starting to be long enough for another cut. Oh how he hoped that man Conaire had something up his sleeve!

"Merda. I'm going to be blunt with you. I will not tell you everything, not yet. Soon though. But what I will tell you is that Helios is going against G'llahar. For now, you'll have to judge me upon that. These eggs, I'm taking them to a man named Conaire." Crossing his hands across his chest, he wondered if he had just ruined everything with the bold statement he made. "You will just have to trust me when I say that the Weyrs will be in no danger because of my doings." At this point, however, he had to take the leap. He was playing dragonpoker here and was hoping beyond hope that Merda would not beat his three weyrleaders.

[Memorie]

"I understand. I probably don't need to know everything." She winked rogueishly at him. She had grinned ferociously when he told her of Helios's rebel plan. "What does the Masterharper need sixty eggs for, then?" She sat and thought for a moment. Conaire couldn't realistically Impress sixty firelizards, and that was more than all his masters and journeymen put together. She sipped her klah again. "Unless he's planning to hand them out to important Northerners?" She smiled at him, squinting. "That sounds likely. Very well," she sighed, feigning wear and tiredness. "I shall help you. And of course the Weyrs won't be in trouble. We have fire-breathing dragons, you know," she said, snickering.

[E]

E'mion's friendly gaze instantly hardened at the mention of the MasterHarper. Certainly he had said his name, but not who he was or that it was going north. How did she know? Standing, he put his hands on the table, willing them to keep from clutching into fists. He had spent so many long, sleepless nights keeping this as closely wrapped as possible. He had been certain that no gold rider hand known, or any other rider outside of his three for that matter.

"Merda?" he started to ask, his voice having gone to steel without him realizing it. Stopping, he swallowed and started in a slightly less ?sharpened? voice. "Merda, how do you know about the MasterHarper? I had been under the impression that nobody at Sodalis knew..."

[Memorie]

Merda lost her smile and her brows knitted. "Bronzerider," she said, using a title instead of his name or relationship with her, "You will be very careful of what tone you take with me. I am the Senior Weyrwoman of Pern, and I will not be talked to like a common holdgirl." Outside on the ledge, Caliath's tail thrashed and she rumbled. "Apparently, your impressions and assumptions were somewhat incorrect. You may have a seat now." She squinted at him, no longer familiarly and jokingly. "Now then. I would be something of a failure as a Weyrwoman of one of the only two weyrs on Pern if I didn't stay current on my Masters and Holders of the North, wouldn't I? I forgive Kyparla, she has had a lot of bad things happen to her lately, the most recent the turnout of that flight, in my opinion." And she had no reservation about her opinion. "She is to be excused from this thing, to be sure, but I am not. I have kept my duties, keeping my records current and my mouth shut, as befits the assignment. And I'll thank you to stay civil with me, considering the undertaking the favor you have so politely and fowardly asked of me, Wingleader E'mion."

[E]

"No Merda. No matter how far you rank me, I do not fly under your Weyr's flag. Char it woman! How the hell have you managed to keep tabs on the north? Who is your contact there? I know sure as fall it isn't the MasterHarper himself. He would have told me."

Loosing himself, the hardened man began to pace the woman's weyr, back and forth before her own hard gaze. Senior Weyrwoman of Pern or not, E'mion found himself completely furious with the woman he had hoped to allie himself with moments before. He knew demanding answers from her now meant ruining everything, but if he didn't know those answers... everything was at stake.

Walking back to the table, he put his hands on it and leaned over once again, this time not bothering to keep his knuckles from turning white as he tryed to steady himself and save what he was distroying.

"Weyrwoman, forgive me. I speak out of place, but you of all people must understand what this has just done to both me and my plans. Everything could be in danger and that is that last thing I was expecting. Please, for the sake of Pern, I must ready the north for threadfall! It can't be more than two decades away if that! You must tell me, how have you been in contact with the north and who else knows about it? I must know! If I am to succeed I must be in control of what happens, not blind to everything."

The bronze dragon outside had stiffened next to the queen, but did not move any farther away. Right now, more than ever, his rider needed his backing and Malekith was more than ready to give it.

[Memorie]

"Watch your tone with me, Bronzerider, and that is the last time I shall tell you before you are asked to leave. I don't give one good flaming whose flag you fly under." She sipped her klah slowly to calm herself before answering. She knew diplomacy, and she knew manipulation. She would give him a little, get him to give her some information, and then give him a little more. String him along. "I have many children, Wingleader. Not all of them have Impressed. One in particular was tenacious and adventuring, but lacked that certain something that attracts a dragon at Hatching." She spoke of her son, Meramein. The man was thirty-four turns now. "After his twenty-first turnday, he was no longer eligible to stand for Impression. We discussed ThreadFall approaching, and he asked me what I was going to do about it. I told him, of course, that it was none of my buisiness, so long as I protected my holds here in the South. He told me that it wasn't 'good enough.' He called on my sense of justice, and I answered." She took a bite of redfruit, careful not to let the juices run down her chin. "He is now in the North, keeping tabs under the tyrant Dorin." She looked up him, her expression bland. "Only he and I know about it. J'ren has no clue about the entire thing, and neither does the boy's father."

[E]

Taking a deep breath, E'mion let it out slowly as he took his seat again to listen to what the woman had to say. It seemed she was telling him exactly what he had asked for, but was not exactly happy about it. Hearing what she said, he paused to roll it over in his head a second time before speaking.

"So... Its just you... and your son. Am I correct? Are you sure there is no-one else?" he
asked, giving her a look that was a little more than cold no matter how much he tried to soften it even a little. She was right, after all that she held rank above him and even with the way he viewed women was not an excuse to do as he was doing.

"Dorin..." he said to himself this time thoughtfully as he leaned back. "I have heard more of the man than I care to although sometimes find myself wondering why he would feel the need to rule the entire north."

Raising his eyes back to the gold rider, he let out a sigh and attempted a smile as he ran his fingers thru his hair. "Alright Merda, I will tell you, I am not the first to be doing these expeditions north, nor will I be the last. I can tell you, however, that G'llahar has banned them so I must trend lightly. The flits are going to be given to every ranking man in North, according to the plans of the MasterHarper he feels we need roughly 60. From there, we don't know. But this will give the idea of dragons back into the holdfolk's minds as they see their smaller cousin's flying about. We will plant that idea, then slowly nurse it. That is what I need so many flits for."

E'mion found himself regretting already that he had to spill so much to Merda, but if anything was to be saved, he'd have to be a little more flexible than he was use to. Merda's help was key, especially if she now knew more than anyone else in the south save S'hon.