Clash of Cobalts (Casriel/Sidran)

A poor night's sleep and a headache did nothing to improve Casriel's mood once she had risen from her bed. The arrival of the Old Guard of Eastern had put a sour taste in her mouth.

'Bronzes.' she snarled to herself as Maraxith put her down on the weyrbowl. She stalked to a tunnel, brushing past drudges on her way to the dinning hall. Or what passed as a dinning hall in this would be Weyr.

If she was right, it would twist all her plans. She could scream for how unjust it all seemed. If she was right, no Cobalt could sire a Titan Queen! Only the fecking bronzes could and only a man could ride a bronze. Casriel narrowed her eyes into dangerous slits. All around her obstacles to her security as next Weyrleader rose. Well, she had lost Garrah but she would not loose Br'son.

'Not to Jah'vis smug face! Not to Ashrah's scholarly, bronze riding brat Z'ash. Not to any other bronze rider who dared rise after Yllaveth. ' she bellowed in her mind.

And yet, she despaired.

How could she deny Pern another Titanium Queen if what she suspected was true fact? The shadows were queen but sub queens. Who might rise and clutch more often but Casriel rather doubted one could throw a large clutch. The more the Wingleader thought of it, the more the burning hate rose in her chest. Her future had been stolen with Garrah's death, her rival lay in the arms of the only man she had ever truly wanted, and now this theory.

Casriel cut a hot path through the crowd but caught someone turning to cross her path. She snarled angrily.

"Watch it, you Dimglow!" Her eyes flashed with fury.

Gaveth was a twisted ball of tension in her head - between Anarath's rising and the arrival of enough dragons to double their Weyr overnight (with no corresponding increase of supplies and food, and a group of hatchlings still at Eastern with Firene, no less), the cobalt and his rider both were not at their best.

"What the bloody shit, Casriel!" Sidran snapped back catching her balance and stepping back toward the other cobaltrider. She'd thought the woman was attempting to become human again, that they could work together with this, but no, of course not.

Far above them, Gaveth stood, wings opening and head swiveling. Not toward the pretty young scarlet who flew in his wing, not in any particular direction, not yet.