An autumn sunset settled upon Kharasi Weyr in a soft, secret whisper. As Rukbat set in the west, it tinted the lingering clouds a striking sanguine coral, fading into copper and violet with the very tips a rare and amazing gold. Aubria watched the skies with a soft smile as she climbed the stone steps to her weyr.

She had just eaten a light dinner, since the weather was still a bit warm and she didn't want to feel weighted down. She mused that perhaps she would gather a fresh change of clothes from her weyr and then bathe in the Lower Caverns, or maybe braid some new riding straps since Lamorath's current ones had been in use for quite a while. Normally she would berate herself for the night alone again--she hadn't yet had the courage to venture out for any purpose besides eating and bathing--but Lamorath had been acting strangely all day, and for some reason she didn't trust herself to leave the green alone while she underwent the unbelievably strenuous task of introducing herself to new people in Kharasi.

A momentary sense of shame and fear clenched at her heart, but it was pushed out abruptly by a rush of excitement and feverish lust. Aubria gasped and clutched at the handle carved from the wall, clenching the cool stone to quench the sudden heat that rose from her and would not leave her mind.

As she cried out, she sensed at the same time Lamorath's trumpeting. The timbre of the green's song would have comforted her normally, but this time, it struck fear into her heart. **No... not now!** she wailed, racing up the stairs, almost blinded by her green's surge of emotion.

Aubria reached her weyr and burst through to her balcony just in time to see Lamorath leaping from the ledge and swooping towards the Feeding Grounds. She turned back to glance at her rider, and her eyes were a fierce purple that Aubria barely remembered. It had seemed so long since the last time... She could do nothing to stop Lamorath, and there was nothing for it but to wait for the rush of male dragons to the Feeding Grounds and their respective riders to her weyr.

And yet, instead of the dread with which she had been contemplating this scenario over the past few days, she was suddenly come over with a joyful apprehension that matched her green dragon's. She couldn't quite put into words why she was excited, when all she had done the past few Turns, it seemed, was to grieve and push herself away from any more potential heartbreaks. Nevertheless, it was with an odd grin that Aubria whispered to Lamorath to blood only, and only one beast... She would fly far and fast, and it would be none but the very best who caught her.

C'ben couldn't figure out for the life of him why his brown was on edge; the sun was now setting, and the peak time for green flights had certainly waned. In less than an hour's time, the window for green flights would be closed entirely, since no dragon ever had a mating flight during nighttime. So, there would not be another green in the sky, right? Well, in the wonderful world of oddity and plot, there always seemed to be rarities abound. A green finally screamed out, and the brownrider instinctively jumped to his feet as his brown leapt off the ledge, gliding gracefully towards the green arrow that was heading towards the feeding grounds. Greens rarely had to blood, but the cooling temperature due to the setting sun probably had an effect on how much energy the green felt she needed. Leovenath had no need to blood; as a brown he had the energy needed to chase a green, and was luckily not overburdened with food; the days of gorging and being terribly full were left behind turns ago, his liking for greenflights requiring a more thoughtful and frequent feeding schedule. Ah, but never mind his dietary habits; the flight was soon to happen!

Leovenath touched down daintily a safe way away from the sultry, sensual green figure, eyes whirling excitedly. He hadn't chased in a while; finding that many of the new greens weren't to his taste in this Weyr. This one, though new to Kharasi, was a green he had known in Tiazora, and the familiarity and good feelings toward the female had stirred his desire to fly her today, and no other. Yes, he had passed up a green flight that day in preference to this one!

And of all the luck, the chances seemed in his favor. With the waning sun, only the most lustful, needing, or most wanting of males would appear for this flight. One might say that there is no sport in a one male race for the female... but it sure did increase chances of winning! Even though a brown, and proud of his abilities.. he knew the dangers of blues in a greens flight. Leovenath was of a good, large size for a brown. He certainly wasn't the largest.. but hey, he wasn't the tiniest either. He outsized every blue for sure, but that guaranteed that they could outmaneuver him.

Leovenath snaked his head this way and that, glancing around for a moment to warily look for other suitors. He'd been the first to greet Lamorath on the ground, but that was little consolation, for flights are not won on the ground.

((Ohhh, I want to get in on this! Stormy - or should I now call you Nako? - please forgive me while I fast-forward one of my characters from our RP to this one.))

I like it. It faces southwest; I can get all the sun I want on the ledge, and you can watch the sun set. Your favorite time of day. Sevofth sounded immensely pleased with himself, as if only he could accomplish the double task of finding a weyr within Kharasi's craggy canyons that perfectly suited both rider and dragon.

Well, to be fair, the big brown had spent some time in the air before gliding over to this remote ledge, a bit too far for most riders' comfort from the feeding grounds and the big natural lake. Solitary by nature, K'jin didn't protest this choice. And Alesia had allowed them their choice of weyr - within limits. Kharasi might be sixty percent empty, but it was growing all the time, and surely Iolath would not remain the only queen forever.

So he forbore to tease Sevofth for his smugness, because the dragon was feeling good, and because the sun was setting in a spectacular manner - gaudy splashes of red and pink and orange and purple.

It was the purple that K'jin's gray eyes lingered on; the color closest to night. To his dragon, he said aloud, "You chose very well, big guy." The brawny rider closed his eyes, letting the sun play on his dark skin, listened to the rush of water far below running into and out of the lake, keeping its waters fresh; listened to the distant cries of the wherfowl as they settled for the night, the lowing of the herdbeasts far across the valley. A breeze played across his skin, making his shorn scalp prickle, bringing with it the smell of rock and earth and water, the faint tang of ocean, the spicy smell of the brown dragon on the ledge beside him. Odd that his senses should be so sharp now, at the end of a long and trying day. Maybe it was because he was in a new place.

Sevofth caught his rider's thought at the very instant his sensitive nose and ears caught the hint of something else. The big brown swung his head toward the feeding pens far below, and blew out a gentle, questing breath. A new place, he said, but some things are familiar. Very familiar. Gone was the smugness in his mental voice, replaced by a deep, dark note of excitement. K'jin opened his eyes.

Sevofth was crouched at the edge of the ledge, his muscles taut beneath his smooth dark hide. His eyes were whirling faster, shading from the idle green of contentment into a darker, wilder purple. The mystery purple of the sunset; the purple of lust. K'jin caught the speed of his dragon's incoherent thoughts; his view of a proddy green dragon: shining with health, smelling richly of heat. His mouth went dry in response, and he whispered, "It's been a long time since I smelled something that beautiful." He wondered who the green's rider was.

Sevofth crouched, about to spring, and K'jin had to leap forward with a sharp command and grab hold of the fighting straps to prevent his brown leaving without him. "You want to chase her on our first day here, you'd better take me to her weyr first, bucko," he growled. "I don't know this place and will never forgive you if you catch a green and leave me out of it."

Huffing impatiently, Sevofth waited for his rider to settle himself, then launched from their ledge with a powerful leap, borne all of male desire to show his prowess. He awed along the canyon to Aubria's weyr, dropped a shoulder, and nearly dumped K'jin off in his hurry to get to the feeding grounds. Once there, he furled his wings and dropped neatly to cling to a spire above the pens, where he would have a good view of the beautiful Lamorath as she blooded her kill, and be ready to follow her with a slight advantage for being higher off the ground than she was. He bellowed from deep in his chest, ending the ringing challenge with a long croon of admiration for Lamorath as the glowing green dropped toward her kill.

K'jin, relieved that he'd at least dropped off his carisak, even if he hadn't had the chance to explore his new weyr, strode with head high into Aubria's quarters. Whether or no Sevofth won this flight, a good chase of a headstrong green was exactly what they both needed after a long and difficult day.

Although, he had to admit when he saw the greenrider standing in her weyr, he very much hoped Sevofth did win. Aubria seemed to glow in the sunset the way her dragon did, with a fine dew of perspiration on her skin as she stood, half in thrall with her dragon's lust. Her lips were parted, her expression one of both apprehension and rising joy. He studied her with his usual habitual remoteness, but K'jin was rapidly losing his battle for self-control as Sevofth's own emotions ran wild.

OOC: Everyone is still welcome to hop in; I'm just getting Lamorath off the ground to get the thread started.

***

Lamorath acknowledged her suitors with a soft, tempting snarl. The beast that she had blooded dropped limply to the ground. The green's meal had painted a dark red line around her mouth, and she licked at the blood sensually with her tongue. She had not risen in some time; she had even gone so far as to stall for as long as she could, for Aubria's utter terror of the after-flight had instilled some fear in her dragon too. But no matter now much her rider might be against the notion, Lamorath had to rise at some point, and this flight had the promise of an exciting one. Already two browns had shown intention to chase, and that was enough for Lamorath.

Almost without warning, she flexed her wings and pushed off from the ground with a surprising show of power in her hind legs. She tucked her wings against her as she rose into the rosy sky, then unfurled them and pushed forth into the wind as soon as she reached height. She was a fast one as far as greens went, and by the shell, she would make them work for it. She hadn't waited all this time only to be caught by any other than the best. The green grinned, baring her teeth, as she called out to the males behind her.

//Come and catch me!//

Meanwhile, in the weyr, something strange seemed to have come over Aubria. The greenrider, who had for Turns and Turns been silent and reserved, was now bursting out of the shell that she had built around herself. Her face was an ecstatic painting of wild feeling and anticipation, and her lips were parted in an uninhibited smile. She sensed the riders entering her weyr, but she paid them little heed; like Lamorath, she would focus on the thrill of the chase now, and look back to see who was left later.

A blue comet erupted out of the lake's twisting surface, pulling for the sky and shedding fridged water. Laris sat up with a start, her ears catching the fading strains of a green's yearning cry. She looked to the sky in alarm, seeing the sun's dying glow just disappearing over the rocky outcrop under which she sat. ~Corv, get your sharding tail out of that sky!~ Her dragon's scathing reply was not words; instead a sense of irritably snapping jaws and wherry-headed refusal. Through it all ran a dark undercurrent of draconic need.

Laris shivered; whether from the evening's declince in temperature or her dragon's abject refusal to comply she wasn't sure. Corvarath was already passing out of view, darting between rocky spires in a bee-line for the rising green. ~Corvarath!!! Wherry-headed idiot! You've been swimming in cold water for nearly an hour, the sun is going down, and you think its a good time for a FLIGHT?!! You are COLD! You won't be able to fly as fast, and I'll be slack-jawed if there aren't at least bigger blues and browns in this flight!~

~Well, they will fly faster then. I will fly better. Now get your skinny butt to that weyr! Laris groaned, but complied. It was obvious that her bull-headed blue wasn't coming out of the sky willingly, and the worst that could happen would be a pulled muscle or two that needed salved. It certainly would give her time to tease her dragon. She jogged quickly toward the green's weyr, her long blond hair whiping behind her; flying over rocks, then sand, and finally to the stone steps of the Weyr itself. She skidded to a halt just inside the green's weyr, glancing quickly around at all the lust-glazed eyes of the riders around her. Faranth's egg, dragon, would it kill you to try for a green with a male rider?!!~ Corvarath amusement filled her head as she felt herself pulled into the same haze as the others, where nothing existed but the green's rider, a woman she vaguely recognized from Tiazora. Normally females held little to no interest for the blue rider, but wrapped in the arousal of her blue Laris found herself admiring the woman's sensual black hair, wanting to touch her arms, her hands...

The blue rider shuddered again, glancing around the room with an under-thought of satisfaction. At least if her dragon did not fly the green there was one other rider-- so far-- in the room... Perhaps another unchosen would not be abject to a daliance afterward. She closed her eyes and let Corvarath work his magic.

((Hey all, long time no see!))

Leovenath uttered a low growl at the sight of another brown, despite his normally cool nature. It probably wouldn't carry past his own hearing, but the appearance of other males heated his blood. Is was probably a good thing too, because the setting sun cooled him in a way that wasn't good for a flight. Oh well, he needed to keep his eye on the prize! Hungrily, he sniffed the air, the intoxicating prescence of the green before him nearly overpowering.

When she took off, there was no way for any brown to be up into the air as fast as she was, but regardless, the raw power of moving his bulk into the air was magnified by the contrast of her effortless grace. His wings dug mercilessly at the thickening evening air, every sinew stretching, every muscle rippling in his back and wings with the effort to take him aloft after the prize.

The greens mental cry was raw and filled with passion as she spoke what might be her last intelligible words during the flight, and the tease was returned with Leovenath's trilling roar, mental words merely coming as more of emotion with his promise to fly his best.

C'ben, on the other hand, was powering up stairways an weaving through corridors, as if chasing after an invisible green as half-remembered thoughts of where the new greenrider had weyred herself, and dragonrider instinct directed him to where he needed to be. The door was still slightly ajar, and C'ben could see already that two women were there, as well as a man. It was obvious to which was the greenrider, for the other two circled her, eying her hungrily. Looking at her, he could think nothing but praise for her appearance, and was doubly relieved to see the enraptured look upon her face. No crying, psychotic woman to deal with to nearly drive their green between! Sometimes C'ben wondered why they'd choose holdborn women to stand for such promiscuous dragons, but then again if they didn't Search, he would have never become a dragonrider. These thoughts, of course, were fleeting at best, for soon he found that he too was circling the woman, wanting near so desperately, but unable to claim his prize... yet.

((Oh, and welcome back rose =)

Also Fury, feel free to call me either Nako or Stormy. I love both nicknames dearly =D ))

((Hi Rose! Yay for all of us returning.))

Come and catch me. Lamorath's call was a tease, an enticement, a heat in his blood. With a roar, Sevofth put all his considerable power into launching from his spire of rock as the lithe green shot like an arrow for the heavens. Chunks of stone gouged by his claws tumbled to the ground below, raising dust around the discarded, bloodless body of Lamorath's kill.

Come and catch me. And Sevofth tried, right then, as she flashed past him all burning bright. His pinions snapped the air with the force of his first downstroke, and he reached forward with snaky neck and powerful forelegs, attempting to surprise Lamorath and her other suitors in one stroke and claim her for his own before she was well into the air. He reached with all he had - and fell short. She was too light, too agile, and his timing had been a bit too slow.

The big brown overshot the angle with a second roar, this one of frustration. Hide gleaming dark in the setting sun, Sevofth arched against his own momentum, bent like a bow, wings half-tucked like a raptor changing swift course in midflight. Except, of course, he had over a thousand kilos on a raptor, so he didn't move so quickly. By the time he'd corrected the galvanic force of his mistake, Sevofth was several dragonlengths behind the other pursuing males. True to his nature, he did not let this defeat him, but drove on with powerful sweeps of his wings, attempting to peg back the distance.

In Aubria's weyr, K'jin's hands curled into fists. Why had Sevofth missed so blatantly? His dragon was nothing if not a superb judge of timing. Had he flown him too hard, too long today in the straight flight from Tiazora? But that couldn't be helped - the new dragons all needed to put to memory the landmarks between the two weyrs, so they could transfer between to anyplace within the Weyr's territory. Only when the Star Stones had come into view had he allowed his group to jump to a spot directly over them.

The big dragonman was aware of other riders in Aubria's weyr now, but if Sevofth was to have a hope of regaining his momentum and winning this flight, he needed all his rider's attention and encouragement. Come on, big guy, he urged. Make it a good chase, and watch her head. It can guide you to the direction she's about to turn.

Lamorath had not waited to rise until night for nothing. She was smart, and she knew that because most males were used to chasing during the day, it would be an incredible challenge to fly by night. Also, the winds were much different once the sun went down. Aubria and Lamorath had often gone for long, silent flights on the nights when Aubria could not bear to stay alone in her weyr any longer, but most dragons were unused to the subtle but drastic changes that different temperatures brought to the skies. Most.

The green's weight, though small, was already beginning to bear her down from her initial height acheived at the start of her flight. But they were nearing the mountains, and Lamorath soared downwards to catch the full power of the ridge lift, the air that was deflected up the face of the mountain. Her sudden dip and equally unexpected rise might throw her suitors, and that was exactly what she wanted.

She continued her ridge running along the mountain range, sometimes taking advantage of the lifts but sometimes avoiding them, to throw the three who chased her. She sneaked a peek over her shoulder. Two browns and a blue... They all appeared to be fast, and they should be given their sizes. But Lamorath was one of the quickest greens in the Weyr. Would they keep up long enough to catch her when her endurance ran down?

The green's sudden leap into the air startled Corvarath, who had been cupping his wings for a landing. No matter... A quick flip of the wingtips and a twist of his tail corrected his momentum and sent him darting after the green. He snorted with wry amusement at the browns below him, their own mass fouling their agility. The humor of the situation quickly disappeared when he realized how fast they were catching up, dispite their initial awkwardness. He was only a few dragonlengths behind then green... but the browns were closing the distance fast.

He hated to admit it, but his rider had been right, the cold had seeped into his muscles and he was tiring more quickly than he ought. The lead brown passed him, and he used the backlash of windcurrent for a quick burst of altitude. He saw the serpentine figure of the green bearing for the cliff face. Carvarath's jaws widened in a draconic grin: This green was nobody's fool. The rock outcroppings and sudden updrafts would play well with her agility and speed, while slowing and agravating the browns behind her. Unfortunately the blue's situation was bleak; he would have a definate advantage if he could make it to the cliff face, yet the muscles in his chest and sholders were already begining to burn with strain. His breath was tight in his chest, and his nose and eye ridges were definately feeling the chill. ~Rider-mine,~ he called desperately. ~It is too far, and they are too fast. I must drop back...~ There was a pause, and then...

~Corv, you wherry-headed idiot, how many times have we flown those cliffs?!! BETWEEN!~ The jump point came to him from his rider, seeing through his eyes, mixed with a deep need that so neatly reflected his own. It gave him the burst of strength he needed, and he took the jump point gleefully, thrusting himself into the dark of Between. The cold was almost too much, givin his already fridged state. As he emerged he spotted the green, not far in front of him, just over a dragon's length! Then he saw the cliff.

Too fast, too close! He had forgotten to check his speed before jumping between! He pulled his wings up and back, braking his inertia and swooping up at a severe angle. Corvarath felt the blood pulled to the lower half of his body, making him slightly dizzy. The cliff wall rushed at him, coming closer... Almost... There! He pulled away from the cliff, his belly just barely scraping the sheer rock. His fear gave way to relief, and his eyes searched again for the green. He had lost nearly all of his advantage, but something was better than nothing, and here amongst the rocky spires he was at the advantage against the browns. He felt sure the green would be his... If only he could last. Muscle fatigue shook the tips of his wings, and he was unsure how far his tired muscles could take him. He dearly hoped this green would tire swiftly, otherwise he might have to pull out of this flight... And suffer the humiliation of Laris' teasing for the next fortnight.

Lunchtime. I've spent the morning in an unbelievable fashion: counting penis sheaths on worms, family tubificidae, to try to determine the breeding population in various samples taken by the interns from a heavily polluted creek. Oh. My. God. I think I was happier as an intern myself. At least I was out in the sun gathering the samples, rather than hunched over a microscope for hours and hours, looking at ... bleurgh.

On with the show! This is my sanity during my lunch hour. :blink:

________________________________________


Sevofth, his eyes and mind focused on the far-flitting Lamorath, correctly interpreted her sudden first lift as catching a thermal mass off the canyon ridge. Realizing that he, too, could take advantage of the thermals to give himself a much-needed breather, the big brown powered into it. For a change, his timing was perfect. Sevofth spread his wings and shook his massive head, glad of the rising spiral of air to support him.

Like all dragons, he had a hard-wired fast recovery time. By the time Lamorath had reached the next spire in the ridge, Sevofth was no longer in oxygen debt. That, together with his rider's confidence pouring into him, gave the brown dragon a much-needed lift of spirits. He put all his energy into the chase once more.

But she was fast, this green, and so clever! Lamorath was as adept at reading air currents as any dragon he'd known. Sevofth admired this in her, much as it hampered his ability to power forward in a straight line to catch her. She would seem so tantalizingly close, only to suddenly be whisked upward again by another capricious whirl of air. It seemed the air did her bidding, leaving her suitors to labor after her. Of the three, it seemed to Sevofth that blue Corvarath had the easiest time of it. But there was no denying the gallant heart and sharp wits of a brown, and Sevofth intended to use these assets to his best ability.

Corvarath's wink between startled Sevofth, but not greatly. So, the blue would resort to such tactics to win this beauty? Well, Sevofth would prove his prowess to Lamorath by outflying her straight; by molding to her flight trajectory and gaining on her inch by inch, with the remorseless patience browns possessed in eggloads. His eyes flashed red at Corvarath's tail as the wily blue took up direct pursuit behind Lamorath. Sevofth's head stretched straight out on his neck, and his legs tucked neatly into his body and tail to give himself the best possible aerodynamics.

Atta boy, thought K'jin in a low animal growl. His thoughts were pulsing with velvet redness, his head a whirl as he stood rigid in the weyr, fully aware of not only Aubria but this second, improbable, aroused female who had come to the flight. Sevofth's gallantry in the flight, and his lust, had his rider in thrall; K'jin was quite unable to think logically as he urged his dragon to end the flight. Long gone was his indifference to the outcome. He wanted--he needed--a woman. It had been so long...and all day he had been tried by Ywain's sneering and Emig's innocent coquettishness, and then the Weyr, and golden Alesia/Iolath, how she had grown up...

Gritting his teeth, K'jin dug his nails into the side of his face, fighting the powerful influence of Sevofth's rut, struggling to maintain some aspect of humanity lest his baser instincts overwhelm him completely and he ended up hurting someone.

Though the one stolid brown hadn't been too phased by the sudden dissapearance by their blue rival, Leovenath let out a bit of a shriek despite himself as the blue winked out into between. Usually a dragon wouldn't blip into nothingness unless they were injured, or trying to avoid collision. Most of the time, this would occur in never coming back, especially when the mind was clouded in the thralls of a mating flight.

Leovenath struggled after the green, snarling with frustration as he powered towards the mountain's side, but didn't dive too far or deep in fear of losing the green with such a foolish move for a brown to take. Instead, he took one of the thermals higher up, putting him above the green, struggling between the effort to keep the distance between them short, yet catching thermals to place him higher and higher.

She was dancing alongside the mountain's edge, looking so beautiful and so free. Her neck arched so prettily, strong wing membranes taught in all the right places to take full advantage of the thermals.... That -blue-!! From below, the wretched cheater was coming up. A low growl was emitted, eyes flashing more red from anger than from lust. With mighty sweeps, he could feel the strain in his wings as he took massive scoops with his wings to peak his altitude before using downward force to take him into a dive, wings opening and controlling the lift just enough to shoot him like an arrow toward the green and blue.

If he had come close enough to the blue, he might have bit him, baring his teeth with ill intent and a warning not to get too near to -him- again! Oh, but that lovely green! He couldn't allow that green to catch her! Now, in a race against his smaller cousin, his body bent and arched in an effort to aid his wings in their sweeps, eyes now only for the green. He sensed the other brown coming up fast, but he forced himself to ignore him, and to ignore the fatigue creeping into his muscles so surprisingly fast. Oh, if only this flight had happened in midday!!


((For the record guys... lets not use between as a viable mating flight tactic. =) ))

((LOL, as bad as this sounds, I really did want a reaction from that one. I fully expect someone-- either a weyrleader or an older charrie, perhaps my bronze rider-- to give her a stern talking to. Besides, it was either that or have the idiot blue pull out early, and that is boring. And I dont doubt his poor little scratched tummy is going to ache for a bit... Anyway, I dont see him winning this one, so I am preparing some plotty goodness for later.

Aside from that (which, looking back on it now, I probably should have said something to Nako first...Whoops!) I am way too tired to post tonight, but hopefully within the next day or two. We shall see))

((Woohoo, Alesia gonna TAAAR YOOU UUUP *insert scary redneck slang* XD Yeah, next time notify me of things that either might not be possible to do, or really dumb to do, that way I don't think you've lost half your mind XD But yeah, I'm all for dragonriders getting in trouble =3 ))

((What, sending a half-frozen-totally-exhausted dragon Between during mating fog could be interpreted as dumb? LOL, a case of social Darwinism at its best... :D))

Lamorath realized with shock that one of her suitors had just winked into /between/ to close the distance between him and her. Her eyes narrowed at the breaking of the unspoken rule, but at the same time she felt a sort of thrill. This was a blue who would really do anything to catch her... And the browns, so valiantly outraged! It felt good to be wanted, to be the object of desire... and she imagined Aubria felt the same way.

The greenrider let out a soft moan as Lamorath's lust threatened to overwhelm her completely. But it wasn't only the dragon that had waited for so long to be in the throes of passion... With the musky, spicy smells of the two men beside her, and the equally enticing delicate scent of the woman who had joined them, Aubria was in the grip of a longing that had held her helpless for Turns. Tonight, when Lamorath chose her suitor--or when one of her chasers finally caught up to her--she would fulfill a need that had tortured her heart and body for far too long.

Lamorath was feeling the effects of her fast flying. She felt the strain of the muscles in her wings and back as she flew ever forward, using the wind as much as she could to keep her alight. She looked over her shoulder at the three behind her, considering... would she choose one of them in the end? Or when she tired, would she simply fall back and be caught by the first to reach her?

K'jin's blood sizzled as he more sensed than heard Aubria's moan. Locked with Sevofth, he was barely able to distinguish rider from dragon; it was all a confused whirl of desire. The wonderful thing about mating flights was that it didn't matter. Dragon won dragon; rider won rider. And to experience the pairing together with one's dragon only cemented the lifelong bond further. It was this lack of inhibition that bred such wild stories in the more stilted Holds and Halls. A man could feel so at one with his dragon that he would want the rising green or gold as badly as he wanted the rider--he wanted the dragon because his dragon did, and he claimed the rider because the desire of their dragons became their desire. To a non-dragonrider, this seemed unnatural and repulsive. That the experience was far different was something an unimaginative holder could not grasp.

All this went through K'jin's drowning train of consciousness in a split-second of thought, just before he gave himself over completely to Sevofth's desire. It was time; the big brown sensed that the end was near, that Lamorath was flagging, and the intensity of his final drive to capture overwhelmed K'jin. If his brown did not win this flight, K'jin would find himself a willing kitchen wench, if he must. His dragon would forget the loss more quickly than he would.

Sevofth saw the green glance back over her shoulder, for all the world as if she would choose her suitor just as a gold would. What spirit! What haughty grace! She was worthy of him; he was big and strong and oh, how he wanted her. He drove forward with all his remaining strength, heedless now of thermals and wind direction, straining every muscle and sinew in his magnificent body to close the gap and twine with her. The sun was almost down; below the ridge, all was in darkness. Oh, to fly with her through the velvet twilight! Lamorath was so close, if only he could get there first, if only he hadn't expelled so much of his energy in his first all-out attempt to catch her at the start of the flight.

C'ben had chosen to stay mostly within his dragons mind early into the flight; the rawness of the reactions of most dragonriders under the flight transe always made that part of him still earthbound almost uncomfortable. What could he say? He was holdborn! Still, the heavy emotion of lust that laid over the room still affected him, face slightly flushed and a sweat forming on his brow. His mouth though, was set in a firm line, the muscle of his jaw bulging with concentration as his dragon now strained, focused more on the prize now than ever.

Heaving breaths fell from the brown's maw as he struggled to keep up with the green, which now looked languidly over her shoulder at the lot of them. The other brown was calling upon reserves that Leovenath had already spent to catch up to the green, and the sense that always helped dragons know where each other was; their secret to avoiding collision, would urge him on, mind ablaze with lust, lingering rage towards the blue, and the desire to win. Though such a thing would be more prominent in bronzes, browns too would be allowed those desires that were all to base and male; to capture the prize, to be number one.

It seemed like most, if not everyone, was driven by a need too far depressed behind other things. The sensuality and desire was much more heightened, almost more desperate in both green, browns in blues. This tension had been building up all day for Leovenath, which had been watching this green in particular, and this green only. Granted, C'ben knew the woman from Tiazora, but this feeling would truly be dragon driven in this situation; why Leovenath took such a liking to Lamorath would be unknown to his rider. But then, humans always made things complicated with 'reasons'. Leovenath knew what he wanted, and that was that!

The brown dragon's neck would arch with some level of pride as his maw parted, bellowing out as if it would alleviate some of the pressure inside him, to ease the ache growing in his back, in his wings.. His eyes fixed on the fluid, graceful body of Lamorath, keen to match any movement she made. This might very well be his undoing if she decided to take on more aerial acrobatics at this time, so Leovenath placed his hope in that she would slow down, or choose soon.

Aubria knew that it was normally only queens who chose their suitors, but she also knew that Lamorath had always been far from anyone's normal green. That was why she and Lamorath went so well together, after all. As the green made her choice, Aubria gave one last smile... and then she was completely taken in by flightlust.

Lamorath's strength was waning, and the only way she could stay up in the air was if she were mostly supported by a much stronger dragon. Both of the browns were very strong, but Lamorath had had her eye on one in particular, and he had proved himself most valiantly during her flight. The daring midair moves, the outrage at the blue's cheating, the constant chase after her without any hint of giving up... Surely, he was the one that would fly her best, so she let the wind carry her back into his reach. Her deep violet eyes met Sevofth's, willing him to take her.

In her weyr, Aubria had already began to make her way towards K'jin, as if in a trance. Her fingers softly grazed his chest, but she dared nothing more lest Sevofth let Lamorath slip from his reach. If he didn't catch her in time, Leovenath would surely take his place, and it would be C'ben that took Aubria tonight... But Aubria ached for K'jin as much as Lamorath wanted Sevofth, and she hoped on everything she held dear that Sevofth would take Lamorath soon.

Was it a trick of the night wind, some supernatural flare as the sun disappeared beyond the jagged mountain horizon, that brought Lamorath sweeping back without effort past Corvarath and straight into Sevofth's flight path? The brown dragon thought not. He was too able a flier himself to fail to note the way Lamorath hugged her wings into her body to cut short her headlong flight. And if he'd missed the sparkling look she gave him, her faceted eyes whirling violet, then he'd not have deserved her.

But that was all it took; he did not hesitate. The big brown, his hide so dark with effort that he seemed part of the twilight, swept his wings downward in one final, mighty stroke that brought him to the green beauty who had flown so splendidly and so without fear. And although she had chosen him, he left no mistake as to who did the claiming; his powerful neck wrapped around her sinuous one, and his forelegs drew her up beneath him as he crooned to her, cheek to cheek, twining his tail with hers and seeking the final act of joining. His wingstroke swept them up and over the ridge, where a seaward thermal caught the fragile membranes and lifted them higher. Sevofth arched his proud neck and gloried in the feel of Lamorath's wings stretched beneath his, her body interlocked with his. She was all his, for as long as the wind could take them, and he intended to enjoy every moment.

K'jin jerked as if burned when Aubria's fingers touched his chest, bare beneath the sleeveless summer jerkin he wore. Her hand seemed to be even hotter than the fire in his blood, and even so he broke out into gooseflesh all over his chest and shoulders. Locked with his dragon, he still saw her eyes, enormous in the half-light of the Weyr, enormous and glazed with lust, locked on his face. The muscles in his jaw jumped with the effort of controlling himself, as at that moment Sevofth made his move and joined with Lamorath. He was in his dragon's head, in his heart, feeling the green's heart beating with his, her hot breath on his cheek, her lithe body conforming to him ... and he was here, in the Weyr, with a girl whose wits were as dragonlust-soaked as his own, looking at him as if she couldn't wait to join their dragons.

And that look was all he needed. K'jin reached for Aubria, one hand on the small of her back, pulling her hard against him; the other coming up to cushion the back of her head, tangled in her long, dark hair. He bent his head and kissed her with all the rough urgency of Sevofth's--and his own--need, but not without skill. Dimly, he appreciated her olive skin, her curves, the hard muscle of her bare arms and her thighs. He blessed her dragon's foresight in choosing to rise at sunset; it gave them a whole glorious night together, without interruption from the normal daylight happenings at the Weyr.

Unaware of the other riders, K'jin swept Aubria up in his arms, his mouth still locked with hers, and moved deeper into her weyr, toward the sleeping chambers and the night ahead. There was no thought of the future or of awkwardness; what would happen would happen. For now it was only the two of them and their dragons, and the muscular, brooding brown rider intended to make the most of it.