Arya let out a startled squeak as she was flicked, the movement jerking her sharply to the side, but she managed to hang on tightly. Wincing a little, she readjusted her position so that she was more safely perched on Vervada's back. She knew the dragon didn't like the saddle, but she would prove she was capable of staying on. She'd grown up dealing with unruly horses, and had been thrown off a number of times. But she'd learned tricks to staying on, and she would use some of those tricks now.

Vervada : Dragon : Warrior : Female
M: Arya (dir)

Vervada growled in anger and surprise as Arya slid to the side, but somehow stayed on the saddle, and pulled herself back up. Now she could feel the girl's muscles tensing, preparing for anything she might throw at her. Her eyes narrowed. While it was impressive that she'd managed to stay on, this was not the goal at the moment. Whipping her tail back around she slammed it into the girl and wrapped the thick scales around her, still taking care not to squeeze to hard to cut her, and pulled. Surely no human could resist a dragon's strength, and definitely not one this small.

Arya squawked as Vervada's tail wrapped around her waist. She had already tightened most of the straps around her legs, so she couldn't be very easily pulled off. She could feel a couple of them slipping loose around her legs, but most of them held tight around her thighs and shins. Squirming a little, Arya managed to loosen the dragon's grip a little bit, but not by much, just enough for her to be able to breathe more easily.

Nyx | Dragon | Warrior | Female | Rider - Kaisen

M: Kaisen, Vervada, Arya (dir) Neryth (ind)

-

As soon as she saw what the larger warrrioress was doing to her young rider, the dark dragon darted forward until she was right in front of Vervada.

"Help me put a stop to this!" Nyx said hurriedly to Kaisen, her rider shifting on her back.

Facing the purple dragon, she said, "You cannot harm or attempt to harm your rider in any way! You know this! Neither the Queen nor Neryth will be very happy with you if the girl ends up injured!"

"I'm f-fine," Arya gasped, wincing slightly as the straps pulled at her legs. "Vervada, I literally can't come off with the straps. If you want me off that badly I'll get off, but you're gonna have to let me go so I can get the straps loose." She winced again as Vervada gave another sharp yank.

Kai had been watching silently, one hand on his sword, ready to intervene if things became too... vigorous. He could tell the other dragon was extremely angry, but he also knew he held no power that could compete with hers. 'There's not much that I myself can do,' he told Nyx quietly. His own strength was nothing compared to a dragon's. All he could do was hope his words might help, though he had a feeling he might make things worse. "She's not trying to hurt the girl, only remove her," he stated, then turned his attention to Vervada. "Vervada, I know you've been to these ceremonies a few times. Although I wish I could help you, we both know the next steps of the Ceremony is the First Flight." He paused, his eyes growing sad. "I know you miss your old rider, but time moves on without us. Give her a chance." He gestured towards Arya.

Vervada : Dragon : Warrior : Female
M: Arya (dir)

Vervada turned her blazing gaze to the younger dragoness in front of her, still trying to tell her what to do. Letting out a large puff of smoke into it's face she growled "I suggest you start becoming friends with silence, it would befit you much better" then she snorted, voice sarcastic "OH no, i certainly wouldn't want to make Neryth unhappy with me!" she shook her head in disdain and turned back to Aria, giving another jerk to try and yank her out. Why wouldn't she just slip out?

But as she turned her head to look at the girl, she caught the look of pain that flashed over her face, and guilt suddenly washed over her. What was she doing? Hearing Kaisen's voice echo by her shoulder she glanced back over at him. Meeting his eyes for a few seconds, she dropped her gaze and stretched her neck back around to Arya, uncoiling her tail and letting it drop to the ground and she stilled her body, letting out a small sigh of compliance.

Meeting her rider's eyes she was about to speak, but from the shifting of claws she could still hear Nyx beside them. And she didn't want the warrioress or her rider to hear what she wanted to say. Frowning for a few moments, she hesitated, a myriad of emotions flashing over her face before she made the painful decision. Opening her mind, which she hadn't done in years, she slowly let down the barriers and let herself feel, search for the slightly familiar feeling. And there it was. She caught the thread and latched onto it. "I suppose I could have just spoken instead of trying to use force, and I hope you know I don't want to hurt you. It's just that back in my first bonding ceremony, the riders asked permission before mounting the dragon. And if they didn't then they got thrown off. It was just part of the ceremony" she explained, hoping that at least the bulk of it had gotten through to Arya's mind. It had been quite a while since she'd used the mind link, and she was pretty sure Arya never had, so it would probably feel pretty strange to her.

Nyx | Dragon | Warrior | Female | Rider - Kaisen

M: Kaisen, Vervada, Arya, Shard (dir) Neryth, Raven (ind)

-

Nyx's spines spiked up, her muscles tense and becoming ridged as she listened to the purple dragoness with growing anger. She was relieved when she saw Vervada release the young rider from her tight grip, but that didn't quench her anger. She ignored her rider's calm words, rather responded to the elder warrioress with a harsh tone.

"You may have no respect for me, and I don't expect you to." Nyx snapped, her lips curled back in a snarl. "But at least show some respect to the Head Dragon! She's done nothing but look after the Flight and try to keep peace in the Order! None of us know what it's like to have to carry that weight, so appreciate what she's done and shut your snout too."

Even under Vervada's burning violet eyes, Nyx refused to flinch or cower. She felt her own rage bubbling up in her at the dragoness's unnecessary standoffishness. She had no right to disrespect Neryth!

She held Vervada's glare with one of her own until the other warrioress looked away with a huff as if feeling that the younger dragoness was wasting her time. Tail lashing, Nyx stalked off to the tree line, staying relatively close to Vervada and her rider but far enough from them so she could cool off. Her spines were still quivering with anger, and a small amount of smoke twisting out of her snout.

Growling lowly to herself, she turned and saw her brother staring at her from across the clearing, his elf rider perched perfectly on his back. Shard had tipped his head to the side, sending a clear message through the distance between them.

"It's fine." She repeated, and Shard just nodded and turned back around, looking as if he was speaking to his rider about something.

Shard | Dragon | Hunter | Male | Rider - Raven

M - Raven, Nyx (dir) Vervada, Kaisen (ind)

-

The elf girl had slipped the old leather saddle over him, securing it via a strap that ran along his underbelly. Wow, now I understand why Nyx always hated these things. The white dragon mused, squirming in his saddle to try and be more comfortable. He allowed his rider to climb on and stood still as she climbed on top of him, quickly attaching herself to him by tightening the leg straps.

Shard paced a couple of steps this way and that, flexing his big winds, trying to get used to the feeling. He also wanted Raven to get used to the feeling of the saddle on the ground as well so that it didn't feel as weird in the sky.

Bored as he waited for the First Flight to begin, he took a glance over to where his sister was standing to see how she was doing. But, to his surprise, she wasn't there. Shard swung his broad head around, eyes scanning the clearing as he searched for Nyx, only to find her face to face with a purple dragoness, another warrior, he thought. It looked like the two were arguing, with Nyx's rider trying to calm her down through their mental connection.

Nyx stalked off, looking angrier than before. She met his eye and he immediately reached out. Even though they had quite a distance between them, he could still reach his sister clearly because well, they were siblings.

"Everything alright sis?" He asked with slight concern.

"Everything's fine Shard. Focus on your rider and prepare for your First Ride." The dark dragoness responded, her voice still angry.

His sister once again told him it was fine, so he nodded and turned his attention back to Raven.