It was nearly a week after the whole group of dragons had arrived on Pern-- such an odd place, Pern, with even odder dragons! they were downright boring, in fact, being of very mundane coloring and very poor memory-- that the actual frenzy took place. By that time, there were a lot of proddy females to deal with. How they managed to convince every lady-dragons' hormones to act up at once, Zionibosch didn't think he'd ever know-- not that he really wanted to! It could have been drugs, it could have been magic, it could just have been the congregation and expectation. The mind managed to do amazing things to the body attached to it, after all.

During that week, they still managed to have fun. Though the multitude of dragonic participants and their bonds were confined to the general area so as not to terrify the general populace who had no idea such dragons as 'Bosch and Cwerty and the other eight mutts, much less some of the even weirder dragons around the Eriol Weyr place, existed, there were still things to do. Mostly those things involved flying around the surrounding area, within a strictly defined boundary (which Zionibosch more than once crossed!), teasing the dragon-fodder called, quite simply, herd-beasts, getting to know all the stranger dragons around, and, in 'Bosch's case, keeping peace among his own peers!

Not that he minded, of course. He was probably the most peaceable dragon there, and the one who knew the most of them, so he spent a good portion of his time settling squabbles and cheering people up. Bandilier, though always cheerful, managed to work Braidie into a full-blown rage at least once a day, and Ithate's flirting kept offending Sezerie and Cetharen. Indira and Ryoniko, for some unfathomable reason, had developed an intense dislike for each other, and Meroclaisen kept switching sides mid-argument. And in the midst of it all, Zionibosch, who had never considered himself anything other than a socialite, ended up playing mediator time and time again. Of the whole bunch, only Cwerty caused no trouble, but 'Bosch was grateful for that small blessing, for that meant he had at least one dragon who he didn't have to placate or coax into forgiveness-- or at least tolerance.

Inviting Cwerty along had been one of his better ideas, 'Bosch found as he got to know her better. By the time the frenzy came around, he was spending most of his time in her company. She wasn't the kind of dragon he usually spent his time with, being cool and calm, as graceful as they came and refined like a real, honest-to-goodness lady, but she kept surprising him with odd moments of rebellion against the weyr-set rules and snippets of wit. She was relaxing to glide around and visit with, at the very least, and she never seemed to forget anything, unlike the dim-witted dragons native to this Pern place. Compared to them, she was a paragon of intelligence; even compared to most of the mutt-dragons he knew, she was quite clever. And, best of all, despite being near enough to her own time to rise, she was never short with him and, to his bond's relief but, surprisingly enough, his own disappointment, she never tried to flirt with him.

As it turned out, the pair of them were together when the call to gather for the frenzy went out, idling catching breezes and chasing flits around. They flew to the weyrbowl-- the central gathering place for a weyr, apparently-- together, but then had to part. Males were to gather on one side of the weyrbowl, females on the other.

:Well,: she told him with a grin, :I'll be seeing you later. Good luck!:

:You, too,: he answered. The ladies would need more luck than the stags, after all: it was they who would do the chasing and the catching!

It felt like hours before everyone was assembled and ready. The task or organizing nearly seventy dragons into something like this was boggling, and 'Bosch didn't want to think about it. Actually, with all the pheromones in the air, he didn't really want to think about anything but the lady-dragons across the dish-shaped depression in the mountainside, all ready to rise, all eying him as a potential mate-- well, eying the whole pack at once, but it was nice to consider they were considering him in particular! Somehow Ithate had ended up beside him, and the gray dragon was shifting from foot to foot in anticipation, eyes glued to the dragon-pack across from them, muttering under his breath. 'Bosch didn't pay any attention to what he was saying, but he figured they were probably thinking the same thing: when would this thing finally get underway??

Apparently there was no actual signal to start things off-- which, upon reflection later, seemed wise; that way there was no one to get mad at if someone thought they were taking too long-- but as it turned out, there really wasn't any need for one. Impatient to be flying-- among other things-- one of the dragons on 'Bosch's side gave a bellow and leapt into the air without a signal, and became one himself, for the rest of the pack followed his example, the little black and orange dragon included.

Zionibosch wasn't the most amazing or talented of fliers, though he didn't think he was particularly bad; even so, it was no surprise that he was among the first of the stags to be "caught", as it were. Embarrassingly enough, it was one of those Pernese dragons whose memory and intelligence he had scoffed at, one of the smallest kinds-- though still larger than he was!-- a green dragoness-- apparently colors defined sizes here. He'd met her once, in passing, and knew her name was Byrth. She only vaguely remembered him, as was the habit with her breed, but all she remembered was that she had found him attractive, not that he hadn't really thought much of her intellect, if she'd even noticed at all. At least she had some personality, he remembered dimly, being a rather forceful green. Perhaps that was why she'd chased and won him, because she was forceful enough to get past the couple other lady-dragons who had thought to try for him.

However it happened, he'd been trying to veer out of the way of another small swarm of dragons heading his way, when he found Byrth swooping up from below and catching a hold of one of his wingtips with a surprisingly dexterous forepaw, for its appearance, pulling him down and into her flight path to tangle with him there. What happened then was, of course, what this whole gathering was about.

Apparently, though, in a frenzy, such things didn't necessarily happen just once to each dragon, for once he let her go, prepared for a lazy flight together down to the weyrbowl, or maybe a lake, and perhaps some friendly nuzzling and grooming, Byrth spun away from him, suddenly in pursuit of another male! Somewhat bewildered, Zionibosch swooped off in another direction. He could tell that Byrth's rider, a young lady named Vidary-- quite pretty, as he recalled, probably to Heironymous' dismay; he was such a strange fellow, sometimes!-- had ensnared his own bond and shepherded him into one of the private rooms there. With nothing else to do but listen in on that, and the sight of Byrth closing in for the catch on another young male, 'Bosch thought that perhaps he should do as everyone else seemed to be doing: keep going!

A new trio of ladies had seen him flying alone, anyway, and were now tailing him. Perhaps one of them would be a more friendly partner than Byrth. Zionibosch led them on the best chase he could, but he was getting tired; two mating flights in the span of an hour was exhausting! It didn't take long before a fiery-winged dragoness, hot pink of all colors, caught up with him and pounced. This was one he didn't know, but she at least introduced herself before getting down to "business", as she put it: Niateiyass.

That, too, didn't last very long, and before he knew it, Niateiyass was winging away, her eyes on Ryoniko. Feeling very dissatisfied, even hurt, Zionibosch hovered a moment to look around. Apparently the frenzy was still going strong. There were dragons everywhere, chasing, catching, twirling around each other in complicated twists and turns in the air. Bandilier was being courted by a pair of lovely dragons; Ithate had just been snagged by a neon green lady-dragon; even Ryokino seemed quite pleased by Niateiyass' attention. He caught sight of a dragoness of Cwerty's unmistakable coloring gaining on a black and blue buck they'd met together twice since their arrival.

Abruptly he'd had enough. Pheromones or no, hormones or no, he didn't want to be in this cloud if dragons a minute longer. He raced into the open air, where he could breathe and think again; let the rest of them play, let his bond and Vidary lay tiredly together. Zionibosch promised himself that he'd never even think about doing a frenzy like this again. At least Heironymous would be happy about that.