2024-07-19 - Five rhymes with what we want her to be

The events of late had shaken things up and given Xlyoth a lot to think about. Too much. The gloomy thoughts of the minds around her gave her one something to think about: Issrodeth.

She knew that Issrodeth was the Senior Queen. Knew that this meant she was the top Gold. Gold amongst golds. If she was not Mother’s Mother, then she was like a Mother to Mother, and that was enough.

Xlyoth wanted Issrodeth to heal, to wake whole and hale, and to be Mother for them all again. She didn’t understand pain and injury, really. She was still safe within her shell despite everything. She wanted Issrodeth to wake, so that she could meet the Gold-Mother of the weyr.

If, forbid the thought, Issrodeth did not wake, then things would shift. There would be an imbalance. A void that needed to be filled. Xyloth did not know how things worked Out There. But if Issrodeth was gone, as the minds around her feared, then someone else would have to be Mother of Mothers. Would Mother become Senior Queen, for whatever that meant?

Everyone, even if they loathed Issrodeth and her rider, respected her, at least as far as Xlyoth could tell. That was something she wanted - for them to look up to her. To be respected, an authoritiy. Perhaps if she was Gold, she could be Mother of Mothers someday.

But that would mean Mother would be gone, and Xlyoth did not like when Mother was gone, even if it was temporary.