Checking Up And Checking In

Writers: AmajoS, Heather
Date Posted: 28th March 2019

Characters: A'chas, W'ser
Description: A'chas brings Noreth to W'ser for a regular checkup and stays for some conversation.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 10, day 13 of Turn 9

W'ser

Noreth glided in for a smooth landing as usual and A'chas unbuckled
his straps and slid off. He was a little late for the appointed time
with the dragonhealer. He had slept badly, as he usually did the
closer to the anniversary it got, and woken late because of it.
Luckily, this was just a routine checkup for his dragon and hopefully
W'ser wouldn't be too put out by his lateness.

"I was about to send out a search party," W'ser said with a toothy
grin. The Weyrdragonhealer stood near the entrance to the dragon
infirmary, arms crossed. IN all honesty, he had enjoyed the last few
minutes, standing outside and getting some fresh air that didn't smell
of redwort and medicines.

"Sorry," A'chas sighed. "I slept longer than I meant to. I didn't
throw off your schedule, did I?" He wished Noreth had woken him up,
but the brown dragon was pretending he didn't know what time was
today. He knew his dragon well enough after all these turns to know
that the beast knew what time of the morning his rider was meant to be
up.

}:I don't know what you mean. You were tired and needed sleep, why
should you wake up before you were done sleeping?:{ Noreth said,
again, his tone all too innocent. A'chas resisted the urge to roll his
eyes.

"Of course not, that's the beauty of being the Weyrdragonhealer, you
make your own schedule." W'ser pulled out his clipboard, which had
been tucked under his arm, that held the information sheet he had on
Noreth. "Okay, let's get Noreth's physical up to date."

A'chas gave his dragon a friendly slap on the elbow and the brown
moved forward and hunkered down to be within easy reach of the
Weyrdragonhealer. "He's been in fine health, as far as I can tell,"
A'chas mentioned. "And good humor too, at least when he's not being a
pain."

"The story of a dragon," W'ser agreed. "Noreth, if you don't mind,
lift your wings." The dragonhealer instructed, eyes carefully watched
the movement of joints, tendons and muscles.

Noreth lifted his wings obligingly, stretching them wide as he did so.
He was happy to, being proud of his wingspan. Showing off was never a
hardship.

Feeling his dragon's emotions, A'chas couldn't help the amused snort.

W'ser made quick notations regarding Noreth's wingspan, length, and
height from snout to tail. "He looks to be in fine health," W'ser
said. "Normal appetite?"

"Regular as clockwork and dependable as the seasons," A'chas replied,
patting the brown. If only his own appetite was as dependable. He ate
when he was supposed to, he knew better than to skip too many meals
with a dragon watching. But, that didn't mean he necessarily felt like
it.

"Excellent," W'ser gave the brown's flank an appreciative thump.
"Noreth is the picture of health." The Weyrdragonhealer said,
concluding the baseline physical as he charted down the information.
He then turned his attention on his friend. "What about you, A'chas?
How are you holding up?" W'ser was fairly certain that the anniversary
of Jadeah's passing was coming up, or perhaps had already passed.

A'chas's expression tightened a bit, "I'm well." It wasn't really
true. In a few sevendays it would be two turns since the woman he
loved had died. But, it had been longer than that since he'd seen her.
He blamed himself, of course, for that. She'd told him to stay and
he'd listened. He hadn't even visited more than a few times because
she hadn't seemed to want him to. But what if she had? What if it was
a brave face she had been putting on, and his own hurt pride that had
kept him from being by her side at the end? "Well enough, anyway," he
added with a shrug.

"Well, if you ever need to talk about it over a couple of beers just
let me know and we'll swing down to the Amber Hills tavern." W'ser
offered.

He gave a small sigh, having recently heard something very similar
from another. Maybe it was time he took someone up on the offer. "That
would be nice." He could feel Noreth's pleased reaction to that in the
back of his mind.

W'ser had made the offer before, so he was pleased that A'chas was
actually going to take him up on it. "How are your children doing?"

A'chas winced a bit, "As well as can be expected. They were all on the
Sands." His heart had leaped into his throat, a surge of fear
overtaking his sharp grief over the hatchling and the bone-deep ache
of Jadeah both, when he saw the unfortunate candidate go down. For
just a moment, he hadn't realized who it was and thought it was one of
his.

"I thought they were," W'ser had been on the Sands himself assisting
new dragonets, and had been one of the first responders to Tyrael, the
Candidate who'd been injured by the green dragonet. "I wish I could
say that was the first time it had happened, but back when Kapera was
Weyrwoman we had a brown dragonet suffer a similar fate." The
Weyrdragonhealer shook his head, it was never easy to see.

A'chas nodded. Yes, it wasn't the first time it had ever happened.
Still, having seen it before didn't lessen the impact. "I remember.
You'd think we were past those times, with how many candidates we get
these days. But, I suppose there are still holders who don't see it as
the honor it is for their children to be Searched."

"It's hard to blame it on the holders, as you said, there were plenty
of Candidates for the green to choose from, in the end, her lifemate
just wasn't there." It was hard to always pinpoint the way of the
dragons, but the old adage still held true about dragons making the
choice. "Will your kids Stand again at the next one?"

He nodded, "They plan on it. Especially Albar. He's only got a couple
of more turns before he'll be too old."

"Well, hopefully his lifemate's waiting on him." W'ser said, knowing
how badly Albar wanted to follow in A'chas's footsteps.

"Yes, he'd make a fine dragonrider," A'chas agreed with no small
amount of pride in his eldest son. Both his sons, and Keelie, who as
as much his as the boys were in his heart, would make fine
dragonriders. He hoped they all found lifemates on the Sands before
their time ran out.

Last updated on the April 4th 2019

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Checking Up And Checking In