Downtime [ChimeraKid]

[Tigersilk]

{desc=Kahnasunita & L}The change in the weather was affecting her mood, something Kahnasunita was trying to keep from her new partner, Cyan dragonet Ibith. It had stormed much of the day, leaving the aftermath with the usual glow of cleanliness storms sometimes leave in their wake. Sunita couldn't quite put her finger on why she was feeling pensive; possibly that certain color of sunlight against that paticular shade of dark blue sky had something to do with it.

Or maybe all the changes she'd gone through in the last month made her quiet; she and her two younger sisters had left their home Hold maybe a week before, and arrived at Dalibor barely two days before all of them stood on the Sands for the rare double Dragon/Wher Hatching. Sunita had Impressed Ibith then, but Annuziata and Jasjitta had been left standing, behind. While all of them were happy to meet the hatchling, it felt weird to all of them to no longer be just the 'unit of three' they had to become to survive their home Hold. So many new things they needed tk learn to survice and thrive here, Sunita thought her head would explode with it all. Old habits and survival tactics may not be needed here anymore, but getting her emotions to agree with her head was going to be a struggle. Her sisters seemed to be adjusting to their new lives overall, though not without bumps along the way, near as she could tell things on this side of the lake. Sunita hadn't really made much of an effort to make connections to her fellow weyrlings yet; while she would talk to them she didn't know if she could trust them enough to make friends with any of them.

Sunita and Ibith were by the waterfall pool behind the Weyrling Barracks, where she thought to get a bit of privacy to begin Ibith's bath. It was after dinner, and Sunita thought her sisters would arrive soon from finishing their last chores of the day. The Weyrlingmaster, K'var, had told her her sisters could spend time playing with Ibith, but that they couldn't spend all of their free time around a baby dragon that wasn't theirs, lest that interferred with the bond Sunita and Ibith were supposed to create with each other. So she saw her sisters around mealtimes, and when they happened to run into each other doing chores around the Weyr. And once a day they'd come and visit Ibith and talk to her, and sometimes help with bathing and oiling her, happy to have a new baby 'sister' to play with. And speaking of the girls....

"Ibith!" "Hello, Ibith!" two girls, one ten, one twelve, both as dark as Sunita, called and came running to meet the Cyan dragonet. Ibith happily crooned a greeting in return, mock-pouncing in front of the arriving girls; the fifteen-turn-old weyrling had warned her dragon several times not to actually pounce on them, due to the risk the soon-to-be giant beast might accidently squish them under her foot.

"Hello, mineSisters! Did you have a good day? And do you want to play? The water is warm today; would you like to swim?" Ibith laid down on the grass, happily letting Ziata and Jas scratch her headnobs and eyeridges, while the girls chatted their day at her.

Sunita let her sister talk for a bit before interrupting. "Alright, everyone. Bathtime for the dragon." She shooed them all into the pool, where they started scrubbing Ibith, happily talking and joking among themselves, making Sunita forget her pensive mood for a bit, though it didn't go away. Not entirely, anyway.

[Chimera]

He regarded the strongly colored blue sky and the contrast of the rays which had only recently gotten to come out against it. L'nor had never liked storms or their aftermath - the humid air they brought even in otherwise cold weather made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. But weather was a minor thing - his upbringing meant that the only reason to be concerned about storms was any damage they could cause.

He'd have to go outside right now, because Mattoth needed a good washing before the brown was oiled. Even the quiet brown dragonet occasionally remarked to L'nor that attempting to get a new friend would be an interesting, and at least harmless thing to do - to which L'nor replied Mattoth was a hypocrite.

It seemed caring for his dragon and interacting with his fellow Weyrlings, who L'nor tended to avoid because he stuck out like a sore thumb with his old age, would have to intersect today. As the pair walked to the lake in no real hurry, they spotted Sunita, her sisters, and Ibith. Though Mattoth's pace did not speed up, he greeted his cyan sister with a calm warble and a mental image of himself and L'nor.

"Well, hello there. Sunita, was it? An' hello to yer sisters. An' yer drag'n." The brown-weyrling halfheartedly waved to all four of them, turning around a bit to make sure it reached the ones swimming around in the Lake. "Drag'n needs washin' too, huh? Seems ev'n the noble defenders a' Pern are dirty as babies." He shrugged, scoffed quietly, and began scrubbing Mattoth, who'd already taken a refreshing dive in the pool - the brown had caused somewhat of a splash. While he did so, L'nor turned back to Sunita. "'Ow's yer Weyrlin'ood been goin'?"

Ibith. How has your day been? The water is nice. Mattoth's eyes whirled a calm shade - a more saturated version of the blue-green water that reached his knees.

[Tigersilk]

Sunita was standing waist-deep in the water, watching as her sisters played with Ibith. The young cyan dragonet was making waves with her wings, trying to swamp Ziata and Jas as they swam just out of her reach. It was wonderful hearing their laughter again; it meant they were feeling safe enough here at Dalibor to play. Or at least safer, anyway. Sometimes the old fear of her other family back at the Hold hearing their enjoyment and stealing whatever it was that made them happy just because....

Sunita put a clamp down on those thoughts. She didn't want Ibith hearing that and becoming worried. Ibith didn't always think before she spoke, and didn't quite understand that there were things Sunita didn't want broadcasted to the others. Though a part of Sunita wondered how her father, stepmother, and half-brother were getting along, now that they no longer had the three girls as scapegoats for their anger and envy. Maybe she might return someday, Turns in the future, and see if they'd imploded or not. For now, she wanted to concentrate on Ibith's well-being, and making sure her sisters at least got some Craft training while here, in case they never found a partner on these Sands.

Ibith interrupted her thoughts (which took less time to think them than to read them). Mattoth and HisL'nor come! she told Sunita, just as a dragon's warble reached her ears. For a moment she had feared it was K'var coming to order her sisters away, in case they somehow drove Ibith between with their demands on Sunita's affections. K'var's tale of the blue Weyrling from his old Weyr that lost his dragonet due to putting his 'little head' where it shouldn't have been, was still fresh in her mind.

Sunita had kept herself mostly apart from her classmates, not quite trusting some of them enough to really talk to them yet. One she had already resolved to have as little to do with as she could, since she hated any dragon that weren't the traditional five colors, something her Cyan wasn't. Others she might take a risk and talk to more soon.

The much older L'nor stuck her as a grump, though he seemed to look after the two of her other classmates that she was told were his younger siblings. And Mattoth seemed to be a nice Brown, from what she could tell.

"Hello, L'nor. Yeah, Ibith needed a washing, she was starting to get itchy. Mama always said that if we ever met some of the legendary Weyrwomen like Moreta or Lessa, that we'd be disappointed by them when we saw they had to use the necessary like everyone else does."

Before Sunita could answer the question about classes, Ibith returned with the girls in tow. My day is good, and the water is good. Play with us, Mattoth? Water is fun for making waves in.. Ibith reared up in a play-pounce before splashing down, making a wave that knocked Sunita off her feet and dunked her head underwater. To her credit, Ibith moved so Sunita could grab hold of her and stand herself up again.

"Ibith!" Sunita sputtered. I'm sorry, Mine! I didn't mean to knock you down, I just wanted to play with Mattoth and show him how to make fun waves and see all the nice things on the lake bottom and..... Ibith babbled and warbled apologetically, fearful she'd made Hers mad enough to send her back to their rooms and end the funtime for the day. "It's okay, baby. I'm alright. Just remember that humans can't hold their breaths underwater as long as dragons can," she said in a soothing voice. "Now apologize to L'nor for getting him wetter, and wait till Mattoth's been scrubbed before asking him to play, 'kay?" She hoped L'nor didn't take undue notice of what her wet shirt was now showing. She really wasn't ready yet to deal with such things as male attentions in her life. She really wasn't.

Sorry, Mattoth'sL'nor, for doing that Ibith apologized through Mattoth, and giving L'nor a 'sorry' nuzzle. Ziata and Jas, meanwhile, were laughing about the dunking while approaching Mattoth curiously. They hadn't seen a Brown up close before, and wanted a closer look.

"Uhm, sorry about that," Sunita apologized, then belatedly realized she needed to make introductions. "L'nor, these are my little sisters Annunziata," gesturing to the taller girl, "and Jasjitta. Guys, this is L'nor of Brown Mattoth. He's in my Weyrling class. Jas, ASK L'nor before petting Mattoth; he may not like strangers touching him," Sunita warned her youngest sister, who was reaching out to scratch Mattoth's headnobs. She better have an etiquitte talk with the girls later; liberties Ibith didn't mind them taking with her would be met with a bite from other dragons. A hard bite, at least.

"May I please scratch Mattoth, Weyrling L'nor?" Jas asked sheepishly, ashamed she'd forgotten something so basic. She hoped the man didn't take offense at it. MineSisters are very good at scratching in itchy places, Ibith assured her clutchbrother.

"To answer your earlier question about classes, they're going alright, I guess. They'd go better if I'd been able to take some Candidate classes first. We'd left our home Hold a couple days before coming to Dalibor, and we'd barely had time for a meal and sleep before they put us on the Sands. It's been a bit of a challenge learning the very basics of dragonlore while caring for one at the same time." Sunita said. "You doing okay with classes?"

[Chimera]

L'nor raised an eyebrow at Kahnasunita.

"Well, a'course they'd use th' nessary, else they wouldn't be a' this world." The weyrling shrugged. It wasn't like they'd actually meet the "legendary" figures of Pern - they were long gone, anyways. For all he knew, they could've never existed in the first place, mere amalgamations of existing Pernese historical figures. He shrugged.

Mattoth, meanwhile, watched Ibith arrived with her bonded girl's sisters - passively, but curiously.

That is good. I can play in the water - it is fun and clean, Ibith...? the brown said. Though he meant nothing bad with his simple words, the dry way he said them could have come off as distant and aloof to some. There was nothing distant and aloof about the warm, dreamlike image he sent to Ibith of a mighty wave of seawater, soaring through the ocean. Of course, the young Mattoth had never seen one himself. He could only marvel at the wonders of the world through looking at L'nor's memories, and those held many beautiful sights.

L'nor lurched forward to get Sunita out of the water, but the cyan weyrling recovered in time.

Splash. He looked at his now somewhat-damp clothes. It was just water. Mattoth relayed Ibith's apology to L'nor quickly. Luckily for Sunita, he wasn't paying attention to whatever her wet shirt could show - he was concentrated on the fact she was alright, and that seemed a true fact.

"Eh. Apol'gy accepted. No need t'worry 'bout it." He even had somewhat of a small smile for Ibith.

He waved with a single hand at Annunziata and Jasjitta. It raised his favor of Sunita - he certainly approved of someone close with their family. He could relate, as well.

"Nice t'meet y'all."

Sunita's worry about some dragons not liking being petted was justified, considering the violent natures of many dragons. Mattoth did not have one - he was rather neutral about being petted (well, perhaps a little on the positive side), as he was about many things. He whuffled curiously at Jasjitta as the girl reached to touch his headknobs.

"O' course y'can. Matt's not th' kinda dragon t'mind. Be careful about any unfamiliar drag'ns, though."

"I'm doin'...also alright with classes. Obviously I'm t'old t' have been a dragon candidate - came 'ere with my family only 'cause th' two youngest were Searched. Got into th' wher program, but obviously 'fate'...or Call'stath an' Kalesk...had other plans. 'Least I got t'be a Candidate, if a wher one, for two seasons or so - still some general info everyone learns. 'm no Harper, but it's definitely diff'cult t' learn so much after so short a time here. G'luck - if y'need some help with oilin', cleanin' yer dragon as she grows up (well, probably th' latter I'd be better at), y'can ask me fer help too - not 'bout th' knowledge stuff. Some Harpers an' many riders here, a'course, y'can always ask them."

L'nor, what th' hell. Wake up. Why th'ell are ye livin' some excitable Candidate boy's dream, gallivantin' around a shardin' Weyr with a brown dragon, of all creatures. Shameful. Speakin' so much -

L'norOwn's mind, please do not worry. We are alright. Mattoth stated privately, somewhat confused, through their bond.

- or I don' have much in th' ways of sense. Sorry, Matt.

He cleared his throat.

"So, where's yer home Hold, out a' curiosity?" L'nor asked, as he started scrubbing Mattoth. The brown dragonet unfurled his large wings rather awkwardly - he had not gotten used to walking with them, which would be an extra concern for a creature already awkward-gaited on land - and a baby at that. It didn't prevent him from enjoying the fresh air, or the cool water against his hide though.

[Tigersilk]

Sunita answered the comment, "I think Momma was referring more to how people sometimes build up legendary people in their minds, acting like they'd have no need for things like the necessary, or food, or sleep and things 'cause they were better than regular people, and that's why the legendary people are the legends instead of the ordinary folks being the legends. And if those ordinary people saw that the legendary people really did have the same basic needs as themselves, then the ordinary people would have to face up to having to act better in their own lives, instead of using the legendary's betterness as an excuse not to. If that makes sense; Mom died before I really thought about her arguments well enough to ask her better questions about them." Sunita had had few opportunities to talk about her late mother with anyone who weren't her sisters; it felt both odd and freeing to do so with someone who might not insult Mother's memory just because her name was spoken.

While Sunita was clinging to Ibith after her dunking (and noting L'nor's attempt to catch her), Ibith gave her an image of a sea wave, juxpotting it with the waves the dragon had tried to create in the lake. It was a prett sight, one Sunita had never seen for herself. Where did you.... she started. Mattoth's has seen those before! Can we see some too? The big dragons say there's some right outside the Weyr; it's not far! And they say they're fun to play in, too! Can we, Mine? We have to wait a few seasons first. We're not allowed to leave until then. You have to be too big for wild whers to eat first! Sunita told her partner. Privately, she the beach sounded like a wonderful place to visit sometime. Once she graduated Weyrlinghood, anyway.
Jas began scratching a willing Mattoth's headnobs, happy to see another dragon up close. Ziata approached Mattoth as well, letting him sniff her hands, and wondereing if the big Brown would let her touch him as well. Ibith stood by her rider, getting her petting from her preferred source of attentions.

Sunita thought about L'nor's remarks for a moment. "They say the Lord Weyrleader was too old to Stand when he Impressed. And surely there's been others over the years who've been too old who've Impresssed. Some old stories even have Farnath's rider, Sorka, as being well beyond twenty-one when she Impressed. So there's probably more adult Weyrlings around than you might think." Sunita tried to comfort him.

"Thank you for the offer of help, I may take you up on it sometime. Easier to clean dragons when there's more than one person to help with it. Though I wonder where we're supposed to bath them in a couple of months, when the weather gets too cold to do it out here. Or will they be too old for daily baths by then, do you think?" Sunita looked thoughtful for a moment, while scratching Ibith's eyeridges. "I may have to ask one of them then, for help sometime. Who would be goods ones to ask, who wouldn't chase me off for not knowing that stuff to begin with? Or would any of the Candidatemasters be willing to fill in a Weyrling sometime, without it being an embarrassment?"

Ibith waited impatiently for Mattoth's bath to be done so she could play with him. While she enjoyed playing with HersSisters, she also wanted a playmate sometimes that she didn't have to watch her strength around, too. She doubted she could do damage to Mattoth unless she conciously choose to. Which she didn't want to do. Hurt him, that is. Play was all she wanted right now.

Sunita startled at the question. While she knew the question was a natural one to ask, she still wasn't entirely comfortable answering it; the bad memories of the place still fresh in her mind. On the other hand, maybe talking about the place with someone who wasn't from anywhere near her old home might help put the horrors she and the girls suffered in their proper perspective. Assuming L'nor was interested in listening to it all, anyway. "We're from a small Hold by Fort Hold, about a half-days walk from it. I don't think it ever had a proper name attached to it; everyone just called it the hidden Hold, since it was so small and hidden off the main road to Fort. Like, it was kinda easy to miss the road leading to the Hold if you weren't looking for it while traveling. We only had two old Masters there; a MasterFarmer and a MasterTanner, plus the other residents who'd left over the years and returned with their Journeymen knots. The Masters left when they were young, and came back for good when they got their Masters knots, since they missed their families so much. And a wher, to keep the bandits away. Sometimes the riders came by on Search, or just to feed their partners while staying at Fort Hold for some reason. The place wasn't so bad, really. It was pretty out there. The people were what forced us to leave."

[Chimera]

"Some people'll use anythin' as an excuse not t' improve their...themselves. Legendary people, even th' Weyrwomen or Weyrleaders, weren't 'xactly legendary in their own days too, 'til they did their famous deeds an' stuff." L'nor stiffened and stood up straight when he heard what Sunita said at the end.

"Yer mother...'m very sorry t'hear that." That was something, unfortunately, L'nor could relate to. Lanasu. In retrospect, he should've listened to her and less to his father. Only now did the weyrling brownrider truly doubt his father's words. Sure, riders were still a strange bunch, any resident of a Weyr in fact, but Janorun had simply loathed them. His son did not, not anymore.

There was no going back now, though - only forward. He and his siblings would make their parents proud, even if they only lived on as memories.

Mattoth was certainly enjoying the attention he was getting. He was not a dragon to casually bespeak others, but he did sniff at and nuzzle the sisters' hands as they petted his snout. L'nor watched him, amused. It certainly didn't decrease his opinion that dragons were just large, talking firelizards. He'd joke dryly to Mattoth that he wasn't necessarily smarter than his tiny cousins, but of course L'nor knew his brown was.

"Was he? In tha' case, maybe it runs in th' family, considerin' 'is dragon's Mattoth's pa. Or sire, think that's the word for dragon papas. As far as...Sorka...she an' Faranth are th' long'st gone of all. Not much worth'n speculation, but who knows. T'me it's stranger when th' little ones Impress dragons at what...twelve, thirteen turns. Dragonridin's dangerous. My own youngest sister, Norilana - who's in our class too, I'm worried for her. Got hurt pretty bad a' the hatchin'. Least she found hers. From one point, I'm proud of her, showin' those hidebound riders what for with havin' a burgundy, but I can't see her fightin' Thread. Nearly died as is." He sighed.

"Anyways, tha's true - even th' smallest dragons're the size of a good runnerbeast." L'nor rolled his eyes upward in thought for a moment. "As far as tha'...I think th' rooms we have now should be fine, even if they're gonna be cramped a bit in th' future. Don' think they'll need daily baths, but I'd reckon still pretty often."

The young man shrugged.

"T' answer tha' question, I'm sure th' Candidatemasters, or our Weyrlin'master, wouldn't get mad at ye for tha'. Yuri's a handler, but Jazz, Nimara, or K'var could help y'out, 'm sure. 'xcuse me for a candlemark, gonna finish up washin' Mattoth." Soon after he said this, L'nor was done and Mattoth was squeaky clean. The brown slowly lied down in the water, inner lids closing on the two faceted orbs that were his eyes, and his neck stretching forward and down. His large wings unfolded to their full length, the water holding them up.

Ibith, how do you play? Mattoth inquired. He just didn't know yet, but his cyan sister could teach him...right? He lifted a paw out of the water, bringing it gently down again. That was not a splash. Hmm.

Meanwhile, L'nor listened to Sunita talk about her former home Hold.

"Hidden Hold? If y'say th' place wasn't so bad itself, it probably wasn't, but what was with th' people there? Don't - doesn't seem too good." The weyrling mentally cringed at his grammar. He needed to work on that.

[Tigersilk]

"Thank you," Kahnasunita replied. It was only since they came to the Weyr that people offered anything resembling sympathy when Sunita told them her mother was no longer alive. Back home, the best she ever expected to that news was indifference.

Meanwhile, the girls were busy admiring Mattoth, taking note of his wing and neck hatchlike markings, and comparing them to Ibith's more feline-ish spot patterns. "Know what Ibith's markings remind me of?" Sunita asked the girls. "Some felines I saw for sale at Fort's Spring Gather years ago. They had a dark mask like hers, and dark boots and tail, with light fur where she's got the spots. Some even had a build like hers, too. The Beastcrafter selling them called them Sameeskaits, and claimed the breed was older than dragonkind. Not sure 'bout that last part, but the felines were pretty. Even had blue eyes, if I remember right." She saddened briefly; that had been the year her mother died, and the last Gather she'd been to. Mother had always taken her girls to them; Father refused to after her death, claiming their manners were always too beastly, and would embarras the Hold with them.

She listened to L'nor talking about his little sister, - Norilana had finally healed up enought from her Impression injuries to finally attend classes with the others - his pride at her Impressing one of the new colors, and his fear of the day she must start fighting Thread as a full rider. It brought to the surface the fear her little sisters would one day have to risk - and possiby loose - their own lives in the fight, something she could not prevent if - when - they became riders themselves. But that was the fate they'd chosen when they came here.

"Perhaps have her take up Healing as her Craft? I've heard all the riders who're Healers fight in the lowest Wing, and I figure that's about the safest spot when flying Thread, isn't it? Beneath all the others, after the higher levels get the majority of it?" And maybe hope that if Ziata and Jas didn't want to be Healers, that they'd get the runner-sized colors, who made up the majority of that lowest wing.

"Hopefully these guys won't need constant baths in a few months. They'd be chapped all winter, and we'd need a ship's worth of oil to keep their hide good," Sunita said with a bit of laughter. And maybe I should ask K'var for advice; see if it's possible to catch up on some things while caring for Ibith." She watched as L'nor finished cleaning Mattoth, who seemed as happy to be getting attention from His and her sisters as Ibith was earlier with her.

Play now! Yes !! Ibith began to rear up as Mattoth pawed the water, trying to make a splash. "Guys, take it out more towards the middle of the lake, where you won't accidently drown us. Guys," talking to her sisters now, "you can go out, too, but stay back so they don't accidently squash you underfoot." Ibith obeyed, happily warbling an invitation to her brother as she swam out. Sunita was relieved that the girls followed a bit behind; if L'nor felt like listening, she was going to talk about things she didn't want Jas to have nightmares about later tonight.

"It's a long story. The short version was that Father had once been a Candidate himself, but he left Fort before he Impressed. He blamed it on Mom and me, saying if I hadn't chosen to be born when I was, then he would have become a Kingrider and the greatest Weyrleader ever. And he punished us for it for years, for taking his dreams from him. Finally we got tired and left." Sunita had been moving towards the shore while she spoke, sitting on the bank to watch both her sisters and the dragons play. "Like I said, that's the short version. Long version is lots longer. If you have time, I can tell it to you. If you want."

[Chimera]

"Yer welcome." He did not know Kahnasunita's life, nor the extent of the hardships she had suffered. He knew his own, too well, and he knew when someone had gone through something drastic.

Mattoth looked at the girls quite curiously as they admired his hide, listening in to what they said. Felines. He knew little of those. L'nor knew something about the Gathers, of course. Though they were Holdless, the father Janorun had been the only one marked - after all, it had been Lanasu's choice to take the children and follow her love into exile long ago. And so the children and the mother of the family had sold vegetables they farmed themselves at Gathers. Norilana and R'hia were the younger two, the cuter, not gruff two, which meant that they were the ones at the front of the stand most of the time...

...Which meant L'nor and Joshu had seen significantly less of Gathers.

"Felines, huh? Th' ones y' just told about do sound pretty." He scoffed. "Old'r than drag'nkind? Tha'...hell, I don' know. Don' think so. Claimin' isn't trustworthy."

When it was Sunita's turn to speak again, L'nor listened to what she said thoughtfully but critically.

"'ealin? Healin'? Guess she's still not t' old. 'er fightin' in th' lowest wing, would be nice. Thanks for tha'. I'll talk t' her about it. It's a big workload, y' don' jus' take up a Craft like tha'. If she wants to. Ran's t' old t' pick up an 'official' Craft, but has a knack t' him t' Healin'." He thinned his lips at the stirred memories, all drifting back to the surface of his conscious mind. "R'hia could 'elp Nori out if she wants t' learn some basic stuff, at least." He sighed. "Healin' also means more exposure t' all th' 'orrible diseases our world has t' offer. More dangerous. But hey. Useful."

Just like dragonriding.

He lightened up when the conversation turned to dragons again.

"A ship's worth fer sure. An' of course. Author'ty figures, all tha'...There fer a reason. If y'need them, jus' talk t' them." A rare shrug.

Yes, Mattoth replied to Ibith. Do not worry. I'll be careful. Having said that, the brown slowly paddled away from shore, his paws pushing against the water. It was so interesting, even carrying his wings for him. Even in the future, when he could do that himself, the dragon would love swimming.

Watching his dragon and his cyan sister swim away, L'nor made sure they were safe for the moment and turned back to Kahnasunita. Looked like he wasn't the only one with a tragic backstory.

"What th' 'ell? 'e'd value some dream over his family?" The young man responded with an angrier tone. "Y'shouldn't have 'ad t' suffer fer that. Mm...I think we have time. Y'can tell me th' long story. I heard talkin' about somethin' serious helps y' feel better about it. Seems yer handlin' it well, but...doesn't seem good." The weyrling brownrider didn't want to say it, but he was curious too. He'd seen so much of his story. He wanted to see someone else's, validate his proof that life was terrible overall. That part of him may have mellowed, but it hadn't gone away.

[Tigersilk]

Sunita tried to remember which classmate L'nor's brother Ran was. One of the Blueriders, she thought. One of them, around her age she thought, did look a lot like L'nor, paired with a dragon whose hatching sign must have been 'free hugs'. A nice-looking guy, she thought. Not that Sunita was planning on pursuing anyone like that for a few years, or anything. She loved her sweet, innocent Ibith too much to ever consider risking her life for a roll in the furs.

"Has your brother asked them about it? Maybe the Healers would make an exception for him, if they thought he had a talent for it." Sunita didn't know L'nor's story, but she thought he might be one of the Holdless she'd heard the Weyr had taken in some time ago. There were few other reasons she could immediately think of for why either L'nor or his younger brother wouldn't have had some sort of Craft training already. Though she still had the Holders' distrust of those without Holds, she didn't fear the former Holdless here. She doubted any of them were criminals; criminals would not have been allowed anywhere near those eggs, she figured, given how protective the dragon mothers were of their clutches.

Ibith, meanwhile, was trying to engage her clutchbrother in some roughhousing out in the deeper waters of the lake. She was showing him some mock-fighting moves while trying to push Mattoth underwater. Accidently, Sunita suspected. Jas and Ziata were a safe distance away from the dragonets, enjoying the spectacle.

Sunita thought for a moment, trying to organize her thoughts on her old homelife into some kind of story order. She'd never tried to tell the whole thing to someone before, so she didn't have any pat answers ready. She was, however, gratified that someone else didn't seem to think her father's behavior was right, or justified. Maybe other people weren't all convinced that her father was Farnath's gift to the world, like her old Hold was. Maybe.

"My father, Satoshi, was Searched when he was about thirteen. Our Hold only has around twelve or so families at any time, so whenever someone got Searched, it was a big deal. Bigger than it would have been at Fort, anyway." She arched her back and stretched her legs, getting some of her kinks out before continuing. "From what I could gather from overhearing the Hold gossips, Father's was always dreaming about one day becoming a great Weyrleader, clearing the skies of Thread singlehandedly on his great King dragon, to the adulation of the crowds below. So when the Fort Weyr Search dragons came, he was more than ready to leave home. From what I could figure, he was even bragging that his friends could even make book on him Impressing a King, he was that sure of himself."

"I don't know how many clutches he could have stood for at Fort; it was years before the Pass began, so there probably weren't as many clutches from any of the Queen colors to Stand for as there are now. So he probably had more free time between Hatchings than Candidates here in this Pass do. I don't know, I don't think anyone back home knows for sure what happened, and I don't know who I could ask about things like that from that long ago. All anyone really knows for sure about his time there is that he was returned home when he was around eighteen."

"Father always claimed that he only came back to take care of his parents because he was the only family member they had left to care for them. I guess they were really sick at that time, a real bad case of the flu, I think. He claimed he was always going to go back to the Weyr once his parents got well, and get his King, that he could always go back when the emergency was over. But the Bluerider who Searched me and my sisters, she said she heard he wasn't allowed back to the Weyr, ever. Or any Weyr, for that matter. He'd been permanantly banned from them all."