She had very faint memories of life with her birth parents - mostly the smell of freshly oiled leather brought that back to her. Riders, both of them, she'd been told. Well, here in the tanner's Hall she did what she could to live up to the standards that her parents must have had. After all, riders needed good leathers to keep them from falling, to hold cargo and lift weights.

Iki knew she also had some blood relatives, but had no idea whether they were riders, weyrbrats, or just what. Didn't much matter, after all she was not with them and didn't have any way of getting to them even if she did know who they were.

Her foster family were hard working, all of them. But unlike some in the Hall, her foster father took the time to teach her everything he could about his craft, even if the craftMasters wouldn't care to allow her to become a true apprentice. Leatherworking wasn't 'girls' work, it required a strong hand and tolerance for the smell. Many of the Ladies who came by to purchase goods fanned their faces and snubbed their noses at the stink, and Iki knew that it was there, but she hardly could tell why it was 'bad'.

After all, it was her earliest memory.

Flying ... her mother's blue (it always made people glance sidelong, when she related that) was sturdy and quick in the air. She could feel the warmth of her mother's body behind her, the secure leather straps holding both of them in while they flew. The way the creaking of the harness sounded, in time with the beats of the great dragon's wings...

Iki wanted to ride again, but it had been years since she'd even seen a dragon, the Hall was protected by dragons, but also by a natural wind that almost literally blew Thread away before it could land close by.

Of course, that wind was said to spread the fumes of their hard work across the local community, but everyone laughed about that.

Iki braided a belt, it was dyed a rich red shade. Possibly it would go with another piece that she'd seen her foster father working on, an arm brace of some kind. Fancy things, but sturdy. While she worked, she wondered what it would be used for, who would wear it. Though some of her age-mates at the Hall would be chattering and distracted by these thoughts, she allowed them to focus her mind, while her hands were busy.

The Hall serviced at least one local Weyr with goods. But the bigger purchases and those which actually got them plenty of marks were from the two large Holds down the river. One at the large, shallow lake, and another at the top of the cliffs above it. She loved visiting either of them, and had been doing so since she was first fostered here.

She could be trusted to ride out with a runner and a pack beast, filled with goods, and begin setting up their stall at any given gather. Iki liked the runners, but preferred the bigger ones, heavy hooved ones with strong necks and good backs. The kind of beasts that reminded her of dragons.

It all came down to that, really. She was a rider by blood, and had been Searched before she really understood why the dragons were sniffing at all the Hall kids. (And longer before she could even grasp why the Masters were so loud about this boy or that one who got to leave up to the Weyr... wasn't it an honor? Why were they angry?)

Iki put the finishing touches onto the belt, made sure that it would sit right no matter the angle, and placed it with the other red items that were collecting over the last sevenday in their 'out' box. Soon, her foster father told her, soon they'd head down to the Hold and get rid of some of their other wares in addition to bringing the Lord Holder his requests.

Iki usually felt good to be out in the fresh air. But more than that, it felt like the weakness she had in the Hall was alleviated by being out there too. Truth be told, if a proper Healer had examined her, they'd realize that she was allergic to some of the chemicals that were used in treating the hides to lose their fur. But she was diligent, and she often used work gloves to pick up and handle things, so that hadn't been a terrible issue save for her lungs.

Out here though, on the road after a day, Iki felt like she could conquer the world. When she and the others arrived to the Gather grounds in the Lower Hold, she immediately began setting up their tables. It wasn't much help that someone else had tried putting their goods on the tanner's plot, and that set off Iki to a tremendous tirade. She'd learned some choice words and phrases in her time among the burly leather workers as well as the beast crafters who brought the hides in. She wasn't afraid to use them, either, unrepentant even when her foster father cast a glance at her.

"They were putting their pottery into this spot," she waved her hand, "and had already put a banner up halfway into the middle!"

"You need to control that brat of yours," said the potter woman who was grudgingly hauling her items back onto her side of the grass plot, "she's got a right rude mouth on her."

Klepen, foster father to Iki, looked over the woman's wares and around on the ground where some were still scattered on his turf. "Rude, but right. Move your wares or I'll take them in trade for the space if you're not quick enough."

Iki beamed at her foster father, aware that while her 'discussion' with the woman was heated, she would never have started something without good cause.

At the gather, they sold many of their goods. Belts and gloves mostly, but also fittings for chaps, even a saddle was commissioned. Klepen allowed his protegee to wander the gather, for he knew that her 'right rude mouth' would put him on the spot and possibly lose him some customers. But she always did a good job setting up the stall, he couldn't have done it alone. So, off to the gather with a couple marks in her pocket, and Iki was a happy girl.

She didn't go for the frilly stuff, laces and ribbons - instead she went to find herself a riding hat, one that would go with her sweater and leggings. Iki knew that she was beautiful, and it was never more apparent than when she was at a Gather. Her full red hair caught the light, and many men's eyes. She swished through the thick crowd, absolutely sure of herself. It didn't hurt that she was almost half a head taller than most around her, and could be spotted easily anyway.

A shadow passed quickly overhead, it was a cloudless day - almost everyone around including Iki looked up and saw a whole wing full of dragons in the sky!

Her heart suddenly pounded. It was as though not a single other soul was on the turf around her: all she could see, smell, feel and hear were the dragons.

A bronze, three browns, several blues and a handful of greens all swept in a graceful line, then changed their positions to become a V (not that Iki knew the letter, only the shape, she didn't need much in the way of reading and writing for her work) and then a W and more complicated patterns.

"They must be showing off their threadfighting drills, if it came from the top... or the side..." Iki said, to no one in particular. But it was heard by one nearby set of ears, and good thing too. With the redhead standing there gawking, along with all the others of course, she alone recognized what the dragons and their riders were doing.

He stood with difficulty, propping himself up with a thick carved wooden staff. There was threadscore across part of his face, into his hair, causing it to appear in fits and bunches. It was obviously a miracle that he'd survived that, and the loss of half his leg... And, upon Iki's spying him ... his dragon.

"You know, I've never seen a girl recognize patterns out of the blue like that," he said, voice steady but quiet. "Have you ridden?"

Iki wondered at his boldness, but then saw: he bore the Weyr's insignia, though he obviously wasn't in any condition to ride any longer, he must have been a rider. "When I was very young, before my father died, yes." The older man nodded sagely, and looked at her more closely.

"You do look familiar," he said, and then abruptly shook his head. "No, it's that you're such a pretty thing, heh, but you seem..."

"Now I know you're an old rider and everything," Iki said, with a wary hood to her eyes, "but don't you go and try and tunnelsnake me out of my marks or --"

"No, no child!" The rider said, fully apologetic and not at all seeming like he was covering up for any untoward advances on a girl a third of his age. "No, you really do look so familiar. Your... father... died," he said, and suddenly his eyes widened, and he all but shrank from her presence.

"Wait! Wait where are you going?" Iki said, calling after him as he deftly hobbled away as quickly as he could. The crowd around her gave gasps and cheers whenever the dragons overhead did something interesting, and those dragons were hardly forgotten when Iki ran out from her place among the people, but they weren't the focus of her golden eyes.

"How could he have gone so quickly," Iki muttered, looking around at all the various people. She didn't see him, his salt and pepper hair would be visible - as he and she might be the only ones not looking skyward. Within a few moments though, she did find him. He was at a beer stand, where else - pulling back a stiff drink of local liquor. He noticed her, obviously, drank again, and then steeled himself.

"That was rude," Iki pointed out, her own tone a bit too strong for the likes of an experienced, retired rider.

"It was ... I apologize," he said and the woman tending her stall looked at them with a bit of astonishment. "But you must understand, I ... I have a story to tell you and it's one that I've not had to tell in many years up in the Weyr. Come sit with me, my treat for a meatroll and mug."

If it had been anyone else, Iki would have turned away with suspicion. However, for some strange reason, she did trust him, and went to a small table with a wide umbrella over it, as he summoned the requested foodstuffs. The day was bright, Iki was glad for the shade of the umbrella.

The older man sat himself down with a practiced slump, and watched Iki. She was a bit rough around the edges, but perhaps that would be because of her trade - she wore the tannery's badge on her sweater if not knots indicating her apprenticeship, so he knew that she'd be that way. But she had excellent posture, particularly for someone who spent a lot of time working on tough leather. And, her eyes... they moved over him the same way, appraising him.

Iki felt a strange sense of ... kinship, almost. She knew she was rider-born, and this man seemed to know it too! That was as strange as it was wonderful. He began his story only after another drink and mouthfull of food.

"I used to be a rider, aye," he said, "I was a wingthird, in fact. I rode brown Lyxath," here he misted up a bit, and if Iki didn't know better it was clear he'd shed tears before this moment, before drinking perhaps. "I'd been riding for the better part of two decades, impressed fresh out of my thirteenth turn, when ... well, as it had for years, Thread was falling." He took another long drink. Iki hadn't been much on drinking, herself, but she realized that it could strengthen willpower - or, how it seemed here, weakened resolve to forget.

"My wing was first out, and usually last back, in those days." He continued with a bit of a stronger tone. He'd found his courage. He looked at Iki and his eyes glimmered. "We had a full compliment of ranks, save the golds - they rode their own wing below but we were sent up high. I saw how you looked at those maneuvers, girl, it was one quite like that third one that would be used in the air that day."

Iki imagined it, a wing of twenty one (how did she know that?) with bronze, brown and their biggest blues up front and a host of smaller greens and blues behind at the edges. Fast, if not as sturdy, the greens would dart in between the bigger dragons and catch Thread if it was missed by the browns and blues.

"It was a nasty fall," the man said, "it was hard wind, hot days and bitter nights, but no rain for weeks, and the ground wouldn't have noticed if Thread had hit it, it was so parched. But our duty was clear, and we went up. The wind was hot, not good riding weather at all you see. The little greens were having a hard time of it already, and I half wanted to send them back to the Weyr. But we climbed at the Wingleader's insistance, it was a thick Fall too, we'd all be needed. It was rough going, the winds were stiff and unpredictable, and none of us were used to flying in it like that - not with Thread in the air as well."

"It must have been very frightening," Iki said.

"I'd be a fool to say otherwise," the rider nodded, "But we had our firestone and the dragons had their flames... Great gouts of the stuff, we had to watch for ash as much as Thread, it was falling so thickly. And one patch... fell hard, it was on my edge so I took my squad over to it. And then," he paused, staring at his mug which was almost empty, "and then the wind blew that patch of Thread straight down upon us. Lyxath's wing was... was ruined, within moments. And I fell, I was falling, even as he sent himself between."

Iki was wrapt, and though neither noticed it, there were several others around tables nearby listening in. So much emotion in the man's voice, none dared approach nor interrupt.

"In mid air, I was caught by one of my riders. I'd been struck," he indicated his head, "and we went between for a moment to freeze it off me, that saved my life, though it'd already done its damage. I wasn't even able to feel the pain, it was ..."

"It was your dragon, losing him made you ... numb?" Iki said, quietly.

"Aye, numb. Beyond numb. Beyond anything. Beyond reason. But I saw my rider and his little green - her wings were already strained by the wind, and then this downdraft... Another one, another patch of Thread, and I could see that we were going to be hit, but I couldn't even raise my hand to signal. We went between again but it was a moment too late. We came back out at the Weyr, a hard landing... if you could even call it a landing, because the green, you see.... she'd ... well she'd died on the way, probably right after coming out from between. And the rider, he'd ..." Here he faltered again, and sucked in a wavering breath. Tears rolled down his creased, tanned and scarred face.

"He had died, saving me, bringing me back... His whole side was gone, along with my leg and half of his dragon's wing as well. That Threadfall took two more from my wing before it was done, the worst loss we'd ever had. I didn't recover my wits for weeks, I think."

"I can't blame you!" Iki said, holding out a napkin to his face and blotting his cheeks with it in an uncharacteristically motherly gesture.

"We mourned for the dragons, four of them and three riders... At times I wished that I'd been let to fall, but... but here I am, and," he said, raising his eyes with a strangely confident gleam in them toward Iki, "it's because of your father's bravery."

Iki went all tingly, her fingers lost their sensation and she felt her face go white. That was ... how he died, she remembered now, the howling of the dragons as they mourned their greens and browns, the people crying and trying to be strong. Her mother, the blue rider, frantic and tearing her own blond hair out.

"Now you see, why I knew you," the man said, "M'ki was a friend, a good man, a brave man. His hair there," he nodded at the bright red mop of Iki's hair, "you got that straight from him, and your height. He was as tall as a dragon's shoulder we'd say. Good man. Good man."

Iki leaned back, found no relief, and hunched forward again. "Sir, I didn't get your name. I'm Iki."

"I'm Walden, formerly W'den of brown Lyxath," he said, extending a hand, "it's good to know that M'ki's blood runs true even now."

***

He wanted to take her up to the Weyr, and it wouldn't be hard or even something to think twice about: those riders up in the aerial loops and flips? They had been taught by Walden, several years after his losses he became the Weyrling master, and had only recently retired from the job.

But would Iki's foster father be happy about it? Iki knew that she had a good job here with him, even if she wasn't 'allowed' to become a true apprentice. She got to thinking on the way back to their stall though... The air in the tannery was thick with poisons to her lungs. She really did fare better in open air, she really did belong on a dragon's back.

Iki didn't even need to say a word, when she arrived with the older man at the stall. Klepen saw the former rider and knew who he was, it was something that, apparently, these men never spoke about. Klepen's brother had been another of the riders killed that day, there was a bond between them that could not be broken. He offered to take in M'ki's child, because he felt ... guilt? Loneliness? In either event, Walden and Klepen didn't chat it up much either. They were somber, but Walden spoke more and more excitedly, and Klepen's nods deepened.

"It'll be hard to replace you," Klepen said, with a fierce hug as if to reassure himself that his foster daughter was real and was safe, "but... I'll make due. And you'll know far more about how to fix and apply harnesses than your peers, eh?"

"You're taking this very well," Iki said, a bit put off, "I'd half expected you'd go off on me like those old Master tanners did when Taldane and Orell were searched years ago."

"You remember them?" Klepen asked, tilting his head, "you do have a good eye, then. And... I'm not -- I'm not happy to see you go, but I am happy at knowing you're going where you belong."

Over the next few days, then, Iki gathered her items and clothing, and was gifted a full weight of marks for her own use along with the promise that several items she had been looking for would come to her at the Weyr. She wanted to make a pair of soft leather boots, to match a corset she'd been working on. In time, they'd arrive. But for now, she was off to Dragonhope, and her future. She wasn't to stand there, but to train for a time.

Then, only when Walden proclaimed her ready within half a year, she was off to Aneris. What would the future bring? Only time could say.

***

Aneris groggily woke, it was the middle of what had to have been the single hottest late-summer night ever. But the misery of the hot, sticky night was broken by the strange sound in Iki's ears: dragons. Lots of them, humming loudly.

"The hatching!" Iki gasped - it was more like a gurgle, who was she kidding? But it didn't take long to get out of her cot and into the... "oh why do we have to wear these..." these stifling hot white robes! Well, it would only be for a short time. And either Iki and the others would Impress or they would get to go back to blissful sleep.

On the way down to the sands, of course, Iki's waking mind realized that for some, there wouldn't be 'bliss', it would be sadness and self-pity. She wondered absently, would she be like that? If she didn't Impress?

The ten eggs were already well on their way to breaking - the green and brown parents of the clutch could be commended! Their sizes were quite different, and after the first couple had broken and Impressed, Iki got a strange, sharp sensation in her gut and her forehead.

The next egg to hatch was rather large considering Liorath laid it. No one seem surprised though when a sturdy looking brown emerged from the shards. Surprisingly, he didn't bother with the group of boys instead aiming straight for the female candidates. He examined a couple of them before finding Iki . "I am not green. That is okay, right? Even if it isn't, you are mine. I am Jumirth," he told her simply.

The red-head chuckled. "You are perfect, Jumirth," she answered. "Come one. There's food out there somewhere, and I'm starving." The pair followed in the footsteps of the other newly Impressed riders.

***

Little Jumirth

***

Big Jumirth

Brown Jumirth - Iki
Size: 34m
Personality: Head-Strong
Sociability: Likes other dragons
Traits: Impulsive
Likes: Being in charge
Dislikes: Being Ignored
Mating: Chases many different females
Other: N/A

Values and Goals
Is very happy with: their foster father
Likes: the Beach
Overwhelming goal: travel
Very weak fear: Dragons
Very strong like: Bustling cities

Feels Extremely strongly in favor of being a dragonrider like parent(s)
Skill most often practiced: leatherworker
Other skills: horse riding

Searched! When: earlier in life