"Closer to two weeks, but yes," Ryan replied. "It's the only way to get to the north. But the transport ships are big enough to carry five dragons at a time, so there should be plenty of space." He ignored Yue grumbling in the back of his mind that she had to share a dragondeck with Vyren for two weeks. She disliked being in close proximity to Vyren.

"Oh, great. This is going to be fun..." Corey continued grumbling, looking at the other two briefly. "Well, I am going to go pack for this new evil you're inflicting on me."

"Sailing isn't evil," Faith commented, baffled. She'd been on boats before, and she'd always had fun. She liked being out on the water. Not as much as she liked being on dragonback, but still. Regardless, she went and headed to her room to pack.

"The sooner we leave, the sooner we can be done with the sailing," Ryan said to Corey. "It's not a bad trip, and it could be a lot worse. It's harder to cross the Boiling Sea, I've heard."

Corey sighed. "All sailing is bad when you get sea sick." Which was the root of the problem for him. He had avoided sailing when at all possible before he'd become a dragonrider, and he'd hoped they'd just be able to make it the entire way on dragonback.

"Ah, I see," Ryan said. "Unfortunately, I don't know of any way to help that. If we could fly the whole way, we would, but it's too far." He never really had a problem with seasickness, but he was also used to hanging out on ice floes while Yue did her hunting at sea. "Maybe ask Xander if she knows any cures? They must know some down by the ocean."

Corey sighed again and nodded. "Yeah, I guess I'll have to. After I go pack. Well, I'll see you later." He nodded to Ryan and headed off to go do his own packing and go find Xander so he could ask her.

Two weeks and several ice floes later, the transport vessel finally made port in one of the tiny little towns of the far north. The jolt of the ship docking woke Lapis, who poked her head out from under the massive blanket she and Vyren were sharing and looked around.

The ship stopped! she said to anyone who would, or could, listen. Her breath steamed in the air. Faith! I think we're there! Are we there? Is this it?

It took a few moments for Faith to bundle up properly before she ventured up onto the dragondeck, but she managed to make her way to her dragon.

"I think this is it, my lovely," she replied.

"It is," Ryan said, coming up behind her. Faith jumped. "Sorry. Anyways, yes, this is as far as we can go on the ship. The weyr is about a ten-minute flight north of here, not far at all."

"I am hitching a ride with someone," Xander announced. Calypso's head snaked out of the near-freezing water.

It's really not that cold.

"Yeah, but you're designed for it. I'm not." Xander shivered a little. "This is cold, and I am not getting in that water. I just know that I'd die of hypothermia or something."

"Amen to that." Corey managed to stumble over next to the rest of them. He'd had the worst time of them during the trip. Apparently he got violently sea sick.

What's the complaining about? It's not cold, Vyren grumbled. Corey just thumped his lizard's shoulder affectionately.

It is cold, Lapis retorted, looking reluctant to come out from under the Vyren-warmed blanket. Mountain dragons could deal with high-altitude chills, but arctic cold was a different story. Faith rolled her eyes a bit and ducked under the blanket to start unchaining Lapis. The dragons had been chained down to the deck to keep them from slipping off and into the cold water.

Yue, on the other hand, had asked Ryan to unchain her from the dragondeck as soon as the ship had come into sight of port, and had happily done a bit of fishing around the boat as she stretched her wings. Now that they were back in the north, the ice dragon seemed to be much more agreeable, even if she still wasn't exactly friendly. Once the ship had come into port properly, Yue landed on the deck again and nuzzled Ryan a bit before letting him climb up onto her back.

Xander glowered at Calypso when the dragon went to go investigate Yue, now that the ice dragon was in a better mood. Rolling her eyes, Xander bundled herself up a little more securely, shivering a little. She had no idea how Ryan could stand to live here all the time.

Corey stumbled over to help unchain Lapis, and then he moved on to Vyren. The other dragon was eager to get exploring this new, kinda weird place.

Once Lapis was unchained, Faith went to help Corey with Vyren. She was glad she was already wearing gloves; the chains were hot from being on the dragon for so long. Once Vyren was free, Faith went back over to Lapis and climbed up onto her back.

It's kind of pretty, Lapis commented. The sunlight reflected off of the snow around them, making her scales shimmer more blue than usual. Faith nodded.

"Different than home," she agreed.

Once the two other dragons were unchained, Ryan gestured for them to follow. It was only a short flight to the weyr.

Vyren let Xander hop up behind him, and then he ordered Vyren into the air. At least his dragon didn't seem to be upset by the cold at all. Of course.

It didn't take them long to get to the weyr, which was different from most of the other weyrs they'd seen. But they were still fairly close to the sea. Corey didn't much like the place, but Vyren seemed to like the snow. Weird dragon.

Rather than being built high into a mountain, the weyr was built into a bare, rocky cliff face. It was surrounded on three sides: the cliff itself, the snowfield, and a glacier a little ways off. Ryan led the way to the eyries carved into the cliff face, showing the others the empty ones before letting Yue head towards her own. While her white scales showed up starkly against the exposed rock of the cliffs, she was nearlly invisible against the snowfields and the glacier.

As they went, Faith ended up huddling deep into her coat. She was used to it being colder when she was flying with Lapis, but the far north was something else entirely. She made a mental note to get actual goggles while they were there; her glasses weren't going to cut it here.

Xander managed to find an empty eyrie down close to the water level. Not too close, but close enough. Calypso could reach her head into the eyrie, at least, and that was about the best they could expect.

Although Xander was sure Calypso would start carving out her own eyrie below the surface while they were there.

Corey let Vyren get settled into the new eyrie while he sort of looked around. He had the feeling that this place would grow on him.

Eventually.

It was surprisingly warm inside the eyries, Faith discovered. Lapis happily flopped over when she landed in an empty one, pleased that she had actual rock to sleep on rather than ice and snow. Faith smiled indulgently and rubbed her dragon's head for a few minutes before going to find the others.

Xander had managed to get down to the snowfield, and Xander had dragged herself half-way up onto the snow, already excited.

I can see some things in the rock beneath the ice. I will start digging later.

"Of course, dear one." Xander smiled indulgently. It would be interesting to see what the dragon found, actually.

Corey took a little longer to get down to the snowfield, and when he did he was carefully bundled. He had the feeling he was going to be sleeping close to Vyren tonight.

"Well," Ryan said, climbing down easily from Yue's eyrie, "Welcome to the Snuggery. It's..." he glanced up, checking the position of the sun, "...nearly mealtime, so we should hurry inside."

"How can you tell what time it is?" Faith asked, glancing at the sky. The sun didn't seem anywhere near low enough for it to be dinnertime.

"Practice," Ryan replied. "The sun doesn't set in the summer, really, so it just kind of circles low and rises again. You get used to where it is and where it should be."

"If you don't freeze first," Xander grumbled. She didn't really mean it. She just wasn't used to anywhere being this cold.

Corey snorted and shook his head. "Food will make you feel better. Go follow Ryan and tell your girl to go see what she can find."

Xander nodded and relayed the message to Calypso, who slipped back into the water happily enough.

"It's warmer inside," Ryan agreed. He gestured for the others to follow him, and he led them inside the weyr.

Faith followed quickly, eager to get inside where it wasn't so cold. She didn't mind a chill, since it was almost always cool in the mountains, but again, cold was another thing entirely.

Xander hurried after Ryan, anxious to get warm again. The inside was warmer, and nice. Certainly something she could get used to.

Corey shook his head and followed Ryan to a table. They might as well get comfortable now. Especially if they were going to get food soon. He found himself kind of hungry.

Ryan glanced briefly around the main hall of the weyr before setting off towards the dining hall. Here, he blended in with everyone else: they were all wearing shades of white and gray. The browns from the mountain weyr and the blues from the ocean stood out brightly amongst the rest of the arctic dragonriders, and everyone noticed the new arrivals.

Xander didn't say anything about the looks, but she did take a seat at a table with the other three she knew. It was always easier that way.

"Good thing we don't stick out, huh?" Corey muttered to Faith. It made him a little bit nervous, but only a little.

"You know, being subtle and all that," Faith agreed. She sat down next to Xander, across from Corey. She felt a little easier sticking with them for the moment.

"Ah, it seems we have some new arrivals," one of the weyrleaders spoke up. The crowd in the dining hall quieted to let him speak. He turned to the group. "Welcome to our weyr. Please, make yourselves at home while you're here. And welcome back, Ryan. I thought it was Yue I saw guiding them in."

"She's glad to be home again," Ryan commented in return. The weyrleader chuckled and nodded.

"Indeed," he replied. He looked out over the crowd. "Now... Let the meal commence."

Xander looked at the weyrleader for a moment before she shrugged and started in on her meal.

"Yea, really. At least we're still welcome in the other weyrs," Corey said quietly. "And this all looks normal." Lots of fish, although there were things there that he didn't recognize. Not unexpected, naturally. But still slightly unsettling.

"I didn't think you wouldn't be," Ryan replied as he took a couple different kinds of fish, and some roasted meat from a platter. There were very few vegetables on the table. "The Snuggery doesn't get many visitors. Nobody really wants to come so far north."

"What's that?" Faith asked after a moment, pointing to the roasted meat platter. It wasn't anything she recognized, but it smelled good.

"Ah..." Ryan hesitated. "You're probably a bit happier not knowing, Faith. It's meat, leave it at that."