So the time had come. If Supersyllaba could glow any more, Lathan thought, she'd blind the eye to look at. Not that Supersyllaba was all that bright, but Lathan had never imagined a creature could glow the way his bond was. Fireflies were one thing, but the constant glow in every one of Supersyllaba's golden hairs and scales was astounding. He'd asked her every question he could think of, taken every note that had occurred to him, and even glued some of her shed hairs into his notebook (even though they'd stopped glowing as soon as they'd parted from her), but the cause of her pre-flight glow had continued to elude him. He could only imagine what kind of hormones it took to cause a creature to glow-

A deeply melodic voice interrupted his thoughts. "If you don't remember to lift your nose out of your notes, love, you're going to miss the whole thing."

Lathan jerked his head up with a shock, blinking up at his dragoness's golden visage. "Oh! Is it time?" he asked.

"Yes, Lathan. Mind the edge."

"Eh? Oh!" The pale-skinned Dajina jumped away from the edge of the roof, his glasses going askew as he stared down at the empty hatching sands two stories down. "By Ru-Urven, what are we doing up here?!"

"It's my launching point, love," Supersyllaba replied patiently, though she did roll her golden eyes. "Better step back now."

"Oh, yes...yes, that's right." Lathan hurried further down the roof of the Avengaean Nidus's inner building, then turned to wave at his dragon from down the curve. "Good luck!"

::It's them you should be wishing luck, not me,:: Supersyllaba reminded, before cutting off the link between her and Lathan so that the absent-minded scholar wouldn't have to deal with her inevitable...emotional backwash...then looked out across the "them" she had referred to.

Five males, all ready and raring to chase her through the skies. Supersyllaba felt none of the possessiveness, nor aggressiveness, nor coyness, nor any other of those emotions she'd witnessed other rising females display back home in Star City. To her, this was just something that needed to be done, and they were the five that had answered her call for assistance, as it were. She would have preferred to forgo the whole rising-and-clutching bit, but it would be easier to get this done with than to keep herself grounded until her heat wore out--not to mention Lathan got adorably dewy-eyed at the thought of her being a mother.

She had, at least, felt none of the urge to do that nasty "blooding" thing that was the habit of so many females. Instead she had gotten the kitchens to whip up a high-energy drink for her instead, thus sparing herself the gruesome chore of drinking blood fresh from some poor beast's neck.

She did not roar or shout to announce that she was ready. She merely spread her rainbow-hued wings like banners and looked towards her suitors, and when all five had spread their wings in readiness as well, she flung herself skywards. The air was hot and heavy in this tropical clime, but after the time she and Lathan had spent guesting at the Nidus, Supersyllaba was at least used to it, if not comfortable with it. As much as she preferred the true sun to the tanning booths of Star City, she was looking forward to returning to the station's always-conditioned corridors.

Supersyllaba took to the sky with no plan in mind with which to weed out the males that pursued her. She was small, so she was fast, but she had also learned to fly with one set of wings at a time so the other could rest, and had respectable endurance as well. So too had she learned a few fancy-flying tricks from watching other dragons, though she felt no real need to show off.

She soared off over the rainforest that surrounded the Nidus and climbed for the clouds, beating strongly with one set of wings while keeping the other tucked and resting as backup. She could hear the wingbeats of her suitors behind her, as each jostled for the lead--or at least, almost all of them.

The purple-yellow mutt, Emquenje, somehow managed to fly as silently as an owl, an impressive trick for as massive a creature as a dragon. He also hailed from Star City as she and Lathan did, and he was her bond's favourite of her lot. There was something about the mutt that inspired others simply with his presence, and Supersyllaba had caught Lathan sidling into Emquenje's presence more than once, just to erupt into a gleeful fit of note-taking. Alas, such sessions usually ended when Lathan got into such a fit that his handwriting ceased to be legible, resulting in his great disappointment after Emquenje's "musing" wore off and Lathan could examine what had become of his handiwork.

Emquenje was at the head of the pack at the moment, along with Tchaneehath, a rainbow-copper of equal agility. The "ghostwing" dragon had been the only one to come with a rider, and it had been much to Lathan's distress to learn that Cybertiger was a female, as he feared she might expect a certain kind of company if Tchaneehath won. Thankfully, however, she could separate from her bond just as Supersyllaba could, albeit rather due to Teleparts than pure mental skill. When Cybertiger and Lathan had met, it had only been to talk and converse as friends. The cybernetic woman had proved well-versed in a great many subjects, and Lathan's notebook always managed to appear when they had spoken.

Behind them was the dark Maley, a dragon who had managed to come across to Supersyllaba as somehow...cold. Perhaps it was only because his colouration was "night water" and he looked dark as night, because Ru-Urven knew Maley had been nothing but a gentleman. Charming, admiring, bright with gaiety--but Supersyllaba was a sharp-witted dragon with an eye for details, and something about him had struck an improper chord with her, despite the fact he hadn't actually done anything worth a second glance. Intuition? Or was it all in her head? She'd certainly never been the suspicious type before...

And behind him, each trying to force the other into last place, were Cemitae and Jcerdan. Jcerdan had never spoken a word to her, though she had frequently noticed him up on the rooftops of the Nidus whenever she went outside. It wasn't her she had watched--or more precisely, he had more often watched the gardens or the surrounding rainforest than he had watched her. Luckily Supersyllaba wasn't the type of proddy female to be insulted by such a lack of attention. He seemed a good dragon nonetheless. Though no one around the Nidus had known anything but his name, no one had had anything bad to say about him, either.

Cemitae Rufasilex, however, was a totally different story. He was well-known and well-liked, and even if he'd managed to embarrass himself in her presence as well as Lathan's, both of them counted among the many that thought of him in a positive light. He had been very helpful and patient with Lathan's curiosity, answering a good many of the questions the Dajina had had regarding the Nidus, and with Supersyllaba he had always been polite, even if he'd done a good deal of stumbling over his tongue.

The golden duowing banked lightly to the side, going from climbing to gliding a large circle around the Nidus. She kept her angle shallow so none of her suitors could cut her off just yet, pondering what way to best challenge the males. The flight urge was strong in her body now, but her mind was separate, as if she were watching someone else's flight from their own eyes. She was observing herself in minute detail, taking mental notes to answer the many questions she knew Lathan would have ready after she landed.

It might have taken her longer to decide if Emquenje hadn't suddenly put on a burst of speed and come threateningly close to ending the flight before it had barely begun. However, it wasn't his sudden nearness that drove Supersyllaba to a decision, but that aura of inspiration that he gave off. Without even realizing the mutt had drawn so near, Supersyllaba tucked her wings and dove as the idea struck, unwittingly pulling her tail-tuft out of Emquenje's reach at just the last moment.

The brightly-coloured mutt was left grasping at empty air, blinking in surprise at the gold's sudden escape, and then his competition was roaring past him in dives of their own as they were quicker to react. Emquenje tumbled and spun as the other males' backdraft buffeted at him, and by the time he recovered his wits and steady flight path, he was too far behind to even bother trying to catch up. The mutt sighed quietly as he drifted back towards the earth, wondering if his bond Duridoss had had any better luck in her search for a mate...

As for Supersyllaba, with the sudden gift of Emquenje's inspiration, she darted through the sky like a golden bolt of lightning. If she could be fast and enduring, then she would test her suitors both ways! A series of turns soon had her turned back towards the Nidus, with her chasers stretched out in a line behind her, still in the same order they had started, though Jcerdan had succeeded in jostling the slightly-smaller Cemitae to the end of the line.

When Supersyllaba steeped into another dive, however, one that sent her skimming the rooftops of the Nidus (and Lathan diving for cover!), Jcerdan's greater size did him in. As the gold swooped low over the roof then suddenly veered skywards again, the enigmatic dragon couldn't keep up. He pulled out of his dive as Cemitae rushed past to claim his spot, backwinging powerfully to land on the rooftop Supersyllaba had dive-bombed. He glanced over at Lathan (who had sprawled to the roof on his belly and had his hair tangled into knots by the wind of the passing dragons) and gave the Dajina a polite bow of the head before he turned away to return to his own quiet manner of life.

The gold's remaining suitors were able to persist through her next series of climbs, turns, and dives, much to their credit. Supersyllaba's speed seem to flag, but then she switched wing-pairs at the peak of a climb and was ready to continue, settling into a fast glide to test the endurance of those who remained. Tchaneehath dropped out soon after this point, for while it had been easy for the agile rainbow-copper to keep up with Supersyllaba's speed, he was now quite tired and didn't have a backup set of wings like the gold did.

Supersyllaba saw the rainbow-copper drop out of the flight from the corner of her eye, and sent back a friendly farewell thought. ::Mind you don't land too close to Lathan, or you'll have him latched to you and begging for your account of your chase!::

::Too late, he's already found Cybertiger and is begging it of her,:: Tchaneehath laughed, spiralling back towards the Nidus.

As Supersyllaba banked back out over the rainforest again, the night-water Maley eyed his remaining opponent with the mental equivalent of a smirk. The Avengaean Fire was clearly tiring, slowly being worn down by the extra drag caused by the fur that grew on his wings, though his eyes were set with the determination of one who would fight to the last.

Maley looked back to his golden beauty, and sent a gentle croon forward to her. ::This chase is almost at its end, my lady,:: he purred, his mindvoice as silky as his colouration. ::Surely you can tell who has won here?::

The dragoness looked back over her shoulder at her remaining suitors, her gaze resting appraisingly on each: one dark, one bright, one confident, the other flagging. After all, Maley had been a weaver of sweet words as none of the others had been, and Cemitae's mouth seemed to open only for him to put his foot into it.

::Actually, I believe I can,:: Supersyllaba sent back, spreading all her wings and cupping the air into them.

Maley could've swelled with self-satisfaction as the object of his affection started to fall back toward him--then stared in disbelief as she banked to the side and fell in place beside Cemitae, putting the Fire between herself and he.

"How did that song of yours go?" she asked of the Fire, as they slowed to a point where the wind couldn't tear their words from their mouths.

Cemitae blinked dumbly at the smaller gold for a moment, but as Maley fell away, silently and invisibly fuming, the reality of her choice sunk in. "Oh, uh...the one you caught me humming?"

"Yes, that one," she agreed, starting to smile.

Scrambling to remember just which song that had been, Cemitae awkwardly cleared his throat and started singing. Once he had the words going, they came with greater ease and started restoring his confidence, because hey--it was one of his favourite songs! "Oh baby, baby, how was I supposed to know...that something wasn't right here? Oh baby, baby, I shouldn't have let you go...and now you're out of sight, yeah!"

"Show me how you want it to be, tell me baby 'cause I need to know now, oh because-"

Cemitae jerked his head in surprise as Supersyllaba's voice joined his own, but was quick to recover and, grinning broadly, joined her for the chorus.

"My loneliness is killing me, I must confess I still believe...When I'm not with you I lose my mind, give me a siiiign- Hit me baby one more time!"

And by the end of the song, more than just their voices had been joined.