You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here (Attn: Any)

Then the feast was finally over and most people had slipped off to enjoy a lover, back to their newly Impressed dragons or to the latrine's to be sick, Casriel slipped down to the bathing pools. Very little wine was left with her and while she was weary, her mind was heavy and she could not sleep. Not yet and she would not disturb Maraxith and Victory with her pacing. Instead, she slowly pulled off her Feasting finery and pulling her hair from its high ponytail, stepping into the water. Her blond hair darkened as it got wet and she swam to the far side of the pool.

She was too proud to admit she was lonely to anyone and for all that she was beautiful, it was hard to take a lover. There were few men that could tempt her outside of a mating flight and the one who did had scores of suitors.

'He can deny a dance with me but flirt with him. Maybe more.' she thought and bit the inside of her cheek. It stung but the pain that gnawed at her heart had nothing to do with Br'son. Only in passing did it have anything to do with Jah'vi.

Casriel curled herself against the far wall and let her hair float around her fact, sinking low in the water until it touched her lips. As for women...what woman could there be after her?

'Garrah.' and the name was a gut kicked sob in her mind. Even now, the pain burned like a fire, like Thread Score.

N'set should have gone to bed. It would have been the safer option, after a night of drinking, and watching, and not-fighting.

But all that dancing and not fighting, the joy and pounding emotions, the tension and pull of six queens (three (four) untouchable, one all too close), and drink on top of it all left him with two much energy to just go to bed, but too cross-purposed to go to bed with just someone.

Well and so. A swim, he'd thought, since Tsaveth had finally dropped off to sleep and shouldn't be roused for a flight. He could occupy himself.

Still, he was quite nearly relieved to see the tell-tale hide of Maraxith, and the blonde-on-dark-water that indicated his rider. Casriel wouldn't ease the tension in him in any way, all edge- and fierceness as she tended to be, but she was the sort of company he appreciated.

"Wingleader," he said, as he pulled off his shirt, "I hope you don't mind sharing the pools this night?"

Casriel was never displeased to see Tsaveth's rider but she wished she did not feel so vulnerable. It had nothing to do with her nudity; Casriel shed her clothing without fear of criticism or reprisal; she was beautiful and she knew it.

"Not at all, N'set. I can always make room for my favorites." Casriel said. She floated away from the wall and sighed.

"It feels good to soak after so much high energy. I haven't seen a feast like that in ages."

He finished undressing and slipped into the water, too concerned with his own tension to deeply notice Casriel's (at least, for the moment). In his defense, it was dark, and he had rarely seen the Wingleader anything other than her flawlessly controlled self.

"Exactly what I was thinking, on all fronts. A proper feast for such a clutch. Those shadows aren't to be underestimated." His smile was a knife flash in the gloom. "Much like all the newer colors. I wonder how many more surprises are ahead of us, in this canyon of ours."

"So many new colors makes me thing that time is painting a new picture for Pern, N'set. The Old Guard die off and new colors rise to take their places. Pern is changing. I feel, maybe someday, when we are the ancient ones the records will read of Titanium queens instead of gold and Cobalt instead of bronze. Assuming, of course, that Citrines and Tungstens do not displace our dragons in the size range. I don't know about you but I won't be related to a mere brown rider. " Casriel said, her own grin going feral in the dark. Se and N'set were not too unlike one another.

N'set's laugh was as sudden as it was full-hearted, and he sliced comfortably through the water. "Who would dare?" he asked lazily. "Cobalts are what they are, and their offspring won't supplant them. It's our new Pern, after all, and dragons know where they fit. Tsaveth doesn't seem terribly worried about the new colors, and I can't imagine Maraxith has much concern of anyone else, knowing his own worth."

"He isn't but my great plum-dark love lives in the present. I dwell in the past, live in the present and ever am mindful of the future. " Casriel said. She peeled away from the wall a little and floated close to her ally, perhaps even her friend. N'set and Cosenne were just her kind of people and of late, D'kan had been distant. That bothered Casriel more than she wanted to admit.

"When I am Weyrleader...things will be different. Cobalts will be recognized for what they are; the better version of the bronze dragon."

"That is it exactly," N'set said with clear satisfaction, moving into an easy water-treading that allowed his arm to naturally brush against hers as she came closer. "Why play games with those less worthy? Let them know where they stand."

That, after Turns of fighting (whether or not these particular bronzeriders hardly mattered, in the moment) for recognition of cobalts, it felt only right to be on this side of things.

It was the smallest sensation, the movement of the water mingling with the slight brush of his arm. For all that, it made the fine hair on her arms prickle and her skin went to goose flesh. She swallowed softly and leaned into his touch. Her hand seemed to have a mind of its own as fingers caught his and she lifted his hand in her's to eye level.

"I would have you stand with me. I would have Cosenne with you. Where will you stand, N'set?"

Casriel held his gaze and her hip brushed his as she pivoted toward him. "When I am Weyrleader, I will reward all of those who helped me achieve that great dream with high ranking positions and firelizard eggs. I intend to restore the Weyrs one day. I would have done it with Garrah but will do it without here if I must. My allies will find themselves not only Wingseconds and Wingleaders but Weyrleaders of their own Weyrs. No power on Pern can defeat Maraxith and I."

"I don't follow well," he said, turning to more fully face her, hand tangled in hers, body drifting closer. "But for you and Maraxith, we would make an exception. You are..." N'set's free hand floated across the surface of the water, "the rightest sort of power." One of their first; definitely their fiercest, between her and Sidran. Casriel's drive and polish over ferocity called exactly right to his own.

"You can never leash a cobalt like he was a blue. Nor should you, their beauty is in their freedom. A partnership, delicately balanced and maintained." Casriel said smoothly, letting her hand lace through his. She felt a flick, a turning ember's heat between her smooth thighs. Casriel pulled N'set closer, savoring the unique feeling of a man's flesh beneath her hands. So much more muscle, the hair a subtle but distinct difference under the fingers.

"There are leashes...and leashes," he murmured, the barest of motions needed to drift closer in the water toward her, sleek skin ever smoother in the coating of water that formed the only barrier between them. "We can be quite good at partnership, in such compelling circumstances."

Casriel inclined her head and pushed the fullness of her lips to N'sets. The contact seemed to set a wildfire in her flesh. Her hands came up to tangle in his hair and the rich scent of him filled her nostrils. He tasted so good.

'No wonder Cosenne adores him so.' Casriel thought. She hoped the other female cobalt would not take offense, for she meant none. On the contrary. She felt blessed.