Wilderness Egg Hunt
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Xanadu Weyr - Clearing

A wide clearing stretches from east to west, the ground packed hard although grass grows across most of it. Trees are strictly forbidden in this space, their danger to the constant draconic traffic reason enough to banish them to the forest that creates a this and sharp border to the north. Where the ground is less trampled, tiny flowers poke their delicate heads out from their shaded hiding places with upturned petals to wave to whoever may be looking.

The cliff looms imposingly on three sides, stretching upwards all the way up the side of the mountain where, high above, Xanadu's Star Stones and the ever present watchdragon sit on a lonely peak. Directly south is a massive tunnel, fully wide enough for even the largest dragon to fly down. Southeast are wide steps leading up to the Caverns and eastwards is the large entrance to the Infirmary. Somewhat north of the Infirmary is a human sized archway that has a frequent quantity of traffic — it leads to the Tavern. Southwest lies the low ledges currently belonging to Xanadu's queens while north and west a broad path cut by the side of the cliff leads to the Feeding Grounds and due north is the spacious trail that leads to the rest of the Weyr.


X'hil is out here with Kinseth, fastening the bronze's straps as quickly as he safely can. Every now and then he pauses for random lengths of time, and looks at the bronze, various expressions flitting across his face, no doubt communicating silently with the dragon. There's a recently returned watchrider nearby, watching on, and glancing now and then to her own tired lifemate. She seems to be finishing up a report, "…and that's what I saw, sir!"

Somewhere above a blue blinks in, hovering only a second before diving groundward with dizzying speed only to land in the clearing near Kinseth. D'had doesn't even bother to dismount this time, turning his attention towards the weyrsecond. "Got here as quick as I could. They were saying something about…"

Kire comes out of the meadow and he spots the two dragons. He give a wave to them, a polite one, "Good day riders. How are you both doing?"

Kinseth glances up as Siebith appears, X'hil echoing the bronze's look. The weyrsecond frowns, and nods to D'had. "Kate." he finishes, grimly. Well, it's not /confirmed/ as such, not yet anyway, but the circumstances do seem to point in that direction. There's a brief nod for Kire as well. "Seen better days. Kinseth's at least willing to go take a look." The bronze has been a near permanent fixture on the sands ever since the eggs were laid.

D'had nods, a hint of puzzlement on his features still for the mention of the missing goldrider. At the greeting from Kire, both blue and rider turn a glance. A secondary nod is given by D'had in reply to the greeting, "Well enough," he replies good naturedly, though there's certainly something else on his mind. Thank name that X'hil has mentioned most likely.

Kire hmms, "Go take a look at what?" He wonders who Kate is. "I'm glad that things are going all right."

X'hil waves the greenrider over. "Here, tell the wingleader what you told me." he orders, before giving Kinseth's straps a final check over. The woman nods a little, and looks up at D'had. "I, we were posted on watch, we saw a dragon take off in the distance, a gold dragon. But she was too far away, and, I, we couldn't hope to catch up." she nods to the green dragon nearby. No match for a gold. "We're sorry, sir." she adds, looking down at her feet. Meanwhile, X'hil seems satisfied with Kinseth's straps, as he climbs up onto the bronze's neck. "You're welcome to come check it out." he notes to Kire, "The more eyes, the better. We're not /entirely/ sure what we're looking for." but by the tone in his voice he has an idea or two.

Kire ohs a little bit, "A gold rider is missing? Sure I'll be happy to help look for her."

D'had shifts his attention back to the greenrider as she relays her story to him. He nods a bit here and there, "Its alright," he assures at her apology. "Report is better than nothing," he adds, offering the woman a signature smirk and a wink before looking back towards the bronzerider as he mounts up. "Ready when you are."

The greenrider blushes a little at D'had's signature smirk and wink, and moves back to mount her lifemate. "We, we know where it is, we'll lead you there." she notes. X'hil nods a little, and offers Kire a hand up onto Kinseth's back. Once everyone is settled, he gives the order to launch, and go between, from the green's image. The green disappears first, and Kinseth soon after.

Kire goes to get a heavy jacket on and he zips it up as he head over towards X'hil since it was him that asked Kire to come along. He hmms, "Aren't we looking for a gold dragon? Isn't she responding to other dragons calls?" He asks as he gets the hand up and he buckles himself in before they launch up into the air and go between.

D'had waits for Kire and the greenrider to be in place before Siebith launches into the sky, the blue disappearing along with the other two dragons. Its a long breath, that count of three before all three have returned to the place of the sighting. D'had shifts in his seat on Siebith's neck, taking a glance behind them, least there be any sign there that might otherwise be missed.


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Wilderness - Sandy Crater

There's a cavernous crater here, one of many dotting the landscape. This one, like several others, is filled with sand. The cavern itself is particularly sweltering, and the sand too hot to linger on, despite heavy boots.

There is no sign of anyone, dragon or human, but the remnants of several eggshells litter the area, the shells overly thin and brittle.


The green flies off towards where she last saw the gold, flying over the crater by a couple of dragonlengths. "It was about here!" she calls out, shouting to make herself heard. X'hil frowns, and looks over Kinseth's side. "Alright. Look around, maybe there's some sign, somewhere nearby!"

Kire nods a little bit as he starts to look around for the gold or anything else that might be wrong. So far he only see the crater a couple of dragonlengths away. "Do you think she went down into the crater? Was that always there?" He asks as he looks around for any other signs to determine the age of the crater. It's probably an old one as anything to make a crater that big would have no doubt been heard. He looks around to see how far they are out into the wilderness.

Siebith gliding towards the crater, a single pump of his wings every so often keeping him in the air currents as both blue and rider search the surroundings for a sign of the missing gold. "Gonna take a closer look," he shouts, turning to look towards the others to be more easily heard against distance and wind. Those few words are barely said before Siebith swoops downward, gliding across the crater at a lower altitude than they arrived at.

X'hil blinks, and pats the side of Kinseth's neck to get the bronze to turn around. As he spots the crater, he mutters under his breath, then calls out, "Over here!" to rally the greenrider, before Kinseth slips in behind Siebith. As the bronze glides over the crater, X'hil swears! "/Shards/. Kinseth, get down there, I want to take a closer look!" he mutters, and Kinseth backwings in to land on the hot hot sands, by the edge of the crater. X'hil slips down the bronze's side immediately, and curses. "Shards. /Literally/." he scowls, eyeing the egg shells.

Kire blinks as he sees the egg shells. He holds on tightly as the dragon heads down and he slides off of X'hil. He looks around, "Where are the dragons?"

"What the…?" D'had starts, as he follows suit, slipping to the ground almost before the blue has completely settled on the sand. "Sharding hot too," he grumbles as he heads off after X'hil. "You don't think, do you? Mean if they hatched should be close."

X'hil shakes his head, muttering about the heat. "It's worse than Xanadu's sands, hotter, much." he notes, with a frown. "Can't've been good for the eggs." Though there's doubt in his tone, so he moves closer. Kinseth seems to be a little quiet now, just looking at the eggshells. X'hil hesitates, and glances back to Kinseth. "Sorry, I have to look closer." he murmurs to the dragon, before turning back to the eggs. He reaches forward to touch one, carefully, and the broken shell cracks. "Brittle, thin. Overcooked."

Kire looks around, "I hope the baby dragons are all right. Why would a gold do this? I mean I never even heard of another gold going up." He moves around as it's too hot to stand in one place. He starts to look around the edges.

D'had hmms, simply watching as the shell crumbles at X'hil's touch. No sense in both of them testing the remainder of the shells. "Don't think there are any baby dragons," he comments in reply to Kire's remark. And then back to the weyrsecond, "I'll stick double sweeps on the area if you think it'll help." Though the way its said he's not so sure that the missing gold is going to be returning any time soon.

X'hil sighs, and shakes his head, backing away from the shells. "She went up not too long, a sevenday or two, before Seryth did, over Ierne." he notes, with a frown. There's a glance back at Kinseth, and he admits, "Kinseth caught." Which is why the bronze is watching those crumbling eggs so quietly. "No sense wasting manpower, she won't be back. Have to note the location down for next time she's due for a clutch, but, with the number of these holes…" He sighs again. It's a daunting task.

Kire ohs a little bit, saddened by the fact that those dragons that were in the eggs would never live to find their riders and perhaps a bit that if there was one a baby dragon maybe one would make him it's rider. Stranger things have happened. He ohs again and moves back over towards the dragons, "What about her rider? Did she go with the gold? Did she go between wouldn't the other Queens know?"

D'had nods. That was pretty much his thought too. She won't be back. "Right, well I'm make sure they keep an eye out for any sign of her anyway." he remarks, turning back towards the dragons. His steps pause momentarily, dark eyes finding Kire before he just shakes his head and continues on his path towards Siebith. "Doesn't look like much we can do here…"

X'hil shakes his head at Kire. "We … don't know. Dragons … can hide. I had Kinseth hiding for several turns." Though he won't say /why/. "He didn't exactly /like/ it, but he hid for me. If Kate really doesn't want to be found, Lusiath will hide for her." he notes, with a frown. "They're out there, somewhere, but Pern is a big place." There's a nod for D'had then. "Yeah. We'd best head back. Kinseth, pass it on." Because the green has been circling above, to see if she or her rider could spot anything else from the air. She disappears between now, and X'hil heads back to Kinseth, climbing aboard and giving Kire a hand up. He seems almost as quiet as Kinseth, now.

Kire frowns a little bit and he picks up one of the small shards of the dragon egg. He pockets it before he takes the hand up from X'hil and gets up onto Kinseth. He buckles himself in and sighs softly as he holds onto the straps.

D'had swings up into place along Siebith's neckridges. A quick buckling of straps even as he speaks, "Should be getting back to some things then," Some duties can wait a few hours when things like this come up, but that doesn't mean they don't need to eventually be finished. "Keep me updated?" Its half questions towards X'hil. "If I hear anything more I'll let you know."

X'hil nods to D'had about keeping him informed. "Naturally." Because the search and rescue wing is the best trained for this sort of thing. He gives the signal to rise then, and Kinseth is already in the air by the time he drops his arm, and between not long after. The bronze has another clutch to see to, after all.

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