Howdy Stranger

Writers: Avery, Leigh M-F.
Date Posted: 30th December 2015

Characters: Z'then, A'kua
Description: A look at the news and ambitions for the future at bathtime.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 3, day 20 of Turn 8
Notes: Mentioned: K'reyel and Saibra (indirectly), various NPCs, F'nix, Ilyssia.

Spotting A'kua on his way to the bathing areas was a pleasant surprise.
"Hey man. How's Zeiranth doing?" the brownrider greeted.

"Better than me," A'kua grumbled, thinking of the chaos in the weyrling
barracks. "What about- Juvath, is it?"

"He's doing well. Really likes being in the Queen's Wing. Says he gets to
spend time with the golds. Thinks it'll improve his chances. Good luck to
him," Z'then said with a shrug.

"Stranger things have happened," was all A'kua said, because it was true.
Who could truly predict the outcome of mating flights?

"Like the new guy winning Chioneth's flight, right? Who could have expected
that?"

The tall redhead gave him a strange look. "That's old news by now," he
pointed out. "So far he seems to be doin' an okay job."

"it's still weird to me to think that our leadership is decided by flights.
I guess he's got chops if he won, but I just wish it was a rider who's
_been_ here awhile. Like, we just got Saibra last Turn from Dolphin Cove.
Now our Weyrleader's from River Bluff."

Z'then valued consistency. These shakeups? Not really his thing.

"At least we have people who know what the shards they're doin' as leaders.
Imagine what it'd be like if we had incompetent sorts tryin' to manage
things in a Pass," A'kua said. "And with blood from other locations, the
dragons aren't breedin' so close." That wasn't truly a problem with
dragons, but it never hurt to play it safe in matters like that.

"That's a good point I hadn't thought of," Z'then said. "But did they have
to both be strangers?"

"We're both holdbred, so we're strangers to them, too," A'kua mentioned as
they entered the front area of the baths. Here there were pegs, shelves,
and cubbies to put clothing away. The redhead placed his chosen outfit,
towel and sweetsand on a shelf, and leaned on the wall to pull off his
boots and the shabby shirt that really needed to be thrown away.

"Yeah, but we're not leading the place. We have time to grow into being
Dragonsfall riders. It seems to me like someone _from_ here should run the
place. Like how an Heir should grow up at the Hold he'll inherit."

Z'then also got changed and grabbed some spare sweetsand from the bucket
for people who didn't bring their own.

"I guess I'm just being a gossip. How's your classes going?"

"And how often has havin' a member of the Blood run Holds caused some form
of stagnation?" A'kua countered, looking away while Z'then removed
clothing. He also turned to face the wall in order to take off his pants
and wrap the towel around his hips. "Anyway, the classes would be fine if
so many of my classmates weren't bleedin' idjits. B'drin's still about as
grumpy as me, Feera's got designs on me 'cause Zeiranth's bronze, G'tyn
hates me 'cause he's got it bad for Feera, a few folks are still tryin' to
get up F'nix's nose, and little L'rille's family deserves to be staked out
for Thread for all the distress they're causin' him. Thank the Ancients for
Lys; she doesn't much mind when I complain about 'em."

"Good point," Z'then said.

The weyrling drama sounded like the kinds of conflicts he'd seen in his own
class. "And no way of letting G'tyn know you don't have any designs on
Feera? Doesn't he know you're involved?"

"If someone in my class _doesn't_ know, I'll be shocked." The happy
embraces he and his weyrmate exchanged each time she visited left no room
for doubt about how they felt about each other. A'kua put his left hand on
the top of his sweetsand jar and lifted, only to hiss and drop it as its
weight pulled on the joint. He kept forgetting Zeiranth's phantom pain from
the dragon's foreleg sprain prevented ambidexterity. He used his right hand
instead. "I keep rejectin' her, but apparently that's not good enough for
G'tyn. Not that it matters. I've dealt with people like him before. Let's
get in the water; I have a geography test comin' up soon."

"Your hand okay?" Z'then asked.

"It's just some pain from Zei. This's his first real injury, so he got
stressed when I tried to block it out without blockin' him. I've had
worse." He lead the way into the bathing area proper, which was already
kind of crowded. "How's the work in the Queens' Wing treatin' you
personally?"

"Sorry to hear he's not doing well. And good luck on your test," he added
belatedly.

Z'then waited to answer till he settled into the water. "It's not as
stressful as flying higher up. And I'm really _glad_ I'm not higher up."

A'kua hoped Z'then couldn't notice the way his jaw tightened; he was biting
his tongue to hold back laughter at the thought of a dragonrider scared of
heights. Z'then was a good sort, it wasn't nice to find his troubles
amusing. "Any chance you can stay with 'em a while?" was all he asked
instead.

"I hope so. I'm applying to the dragonhealers too, because I always wanted
to. Queen's Wing has a lot of injured riders."

"Good. We always need dragonhealers," A'kua approved, and dunked his head
before giving it a good scrub with sweetsand.

"You only ever wanted to be a Harper, right? For crafting?"

The redhead hesitated. "No," he admitted. "I just wanted to learn
everythin' I missed out on. If I never Impressed, it was a good thing to
fall back on. But I didn't want to be a traditional harper." He reached
over his shoulder to start washing his back.

"What did you want to do then?" Z'then asked. "I would have stayed a
caverns worker. The only craft I really wanted was dragonhealing, and if I
couldn't Impress, then I couldn't go far."

A'kua paused, pondering the past two Turns. "I wasn't really thinkin' about
that. There was so much I wanted and needed otherwise," he said quietly. "I
_did_ eventually find them." And now he didn't have to think about the path
his life would take anyway.

"It seems like the weyr's made both of us better off."

"Aye," A'kua agreed, and resumed washing.

"Also seriously, if you find yourself having any trouble with something,
have Zeiranth reach Juvath, okay? I could tutor if you need, and since I
just graduated it's all fresh in my mind. Well, the part that survived
weyrlinghood," he said with a little smile.

"I think of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most," A'kua
snickered. "Thanks, Z'then."

"Not a worries. And hey, if I hear anything juicy, I'll let you know."

Last updated on the January 1st 2016

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Howdy Stranger