Eyes Peeled for Another Pierce

Writers: Aaron, Devin
Date Posted: 23rd July 2025

Characters: H'yazi, N'vanik
Description: A kid with no name takes a Weyrleader up on his offer to move somewhere where the air doesn't hurt his face.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 9, day 17 of Turn 12

N'vanik

The Boy felt... alone. But there was solace in solitude. The woman who called herself his mother was dead. The man who called himself his father was rotting in some jail somewhere. Or... perhaps he was dead, too. And no was was calling him names. No one was hitting him. No one was asking him to lie or cheat or steal. And someone had offered him a home.

The mountain people clearly did not want him or the others there, and The Boy did not blame them. There was no telling what lies they had told. What deeds they had done. Been made to tell or do.

Too many of the others were proud. They would not take the help. But nobody was there to claim The Boy, nobody to speak for him, nobody to stop him. The others were a lot of fools for not pouncing on the chance to go where the sun shone, where the water danced on the sand. Where there was hope.

There was only one obstacle left. The Boy had to convince their Weyrleader that he was trustworthy enough to accept. Maybe that was why they had refused. Maybe they did not believe they could convince him.

"Um. N'vanik? Sir? I, um... They said you wanted to talk to me before I could come to your Weyr." He was scrawny. The people who called themselves his parents always said it was better that he looked younger than he was. It helped him play the part of the poor beggar child far better. But malnutrition had done that, not blood.

Shards, the kid was all skin and bones. Still, N'vanik had to be careful and assess him with an objective eye. "Come have a seat." The Weyrleader gestured to the chair in front of his desk. "Usually it's the Weyrwoman's role to accept new weyrfolk, but I have security concerns given your situation and with the attacks that we've had here."

The Boy sat down on the edge of the seat. Security concerns. What did the man know? What had he heard? The Boy knew precious little about what had actually happened at Dolphin Cove, half a world a way, while he and his parents had been stealing and cheating people out of their livestock. But perhaps one of the others had told N'vanik about his mother and what she had been about. About where his father was.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"That's part of what we're here to discuss," N'vanik said. "How did you become holdless?"

"I was born Holdless, sir," said The Boy. Why he became Holdless, but not why he stayed that way. He still longed for the time when they could have had a home if his parents had ever thought beyond the con.

"I thought that might be the case. What about your parents?" N'vanik studied his movements, the way he spoke, looking for signs of deception.

Something about N'vanik made The Boy feel like he already knew all of the answers to the questions he was asking. If The Boy lied, N'vanik would know. He could not ruin this, not like They ruined his chance to live with Hayarall and Liazi.

"I don't know, not really," said The Boy. "My birth mother died when I was born. And then my birth father died trying to steal herdbeasts. The only people I ever knew as my parents were the same way. They stole and tricked and lied, and they made me help them... My father got caught because I tried to warn a family we lived with for a very long time. I don't know where he is. And my mother died in the flooding in the caves."

N'vanik tried to push back the empathy. This was just a kid, but C'pier hadn't been much more than a kid when he tried to kill Saedyna. N'vanik had to balance his desire to help with the safety of the Weyr. Of his people. "So you were an unwilling participant in these crimes?" Not that he much cared about theft, it was more important how the kid answered.

"At first, I didn't really understand. I just did what they told me to do. They made it seem like a game. I never saw what happened after we got away. I didn't even know my dad... my father wasn't my birth father until what I did got him arrested. My mother told me it was my fault my birth father got killed, too, but I think she was lying. Just trying to make me feel bad," said The Boy.

"After we got away from there, my mother told me if I didn't keep helping her, she would have to... you know, sell me to pay for food." The Boy blushed. "Since it was my fault my father was caught."

Shards and shells. N'vanik struggled to keep a neutral expression. "Cobbet, if I let you live here, will you swear not to hurt anyone?"

"Hurt anyone...? I don't want to hurt anyone else. I swear," said The Boy. Who would he hurt? The Weyr was full of people who would destroy him if he even thought about hurting anyone. "And... that's not my name. It's just the last thing my mother decided to call me."

N'vanik arched an eyebrow. "Then what is your name?"

"I don't know. My birth mother died before she could name me, and they called me and themselves all something different every time we went somewhere new," said The Boy. "When we were alone, they always just called me Boy."

"Well, then I guess you can use whatever name you like. You wouldn't be the first to choose a new name when coming to the Weyr," N'vanik said.

The Boy's eyes lit up. The possibilities were endless!

"Then I could be something awesome like..." His eyes scanned back and forth. "Like Blaze! Or maybe Talon! Which do you think is better?"

The Weyrleader barely held back a sigh. "You're not a flit, and you're not a canine. Pick a real name." He didn't need a repeat of Blue and Pierce.

The Boy froze for a moment, almost as if he expected to be struck for being silly. His smile certainly disappeared.

A real name. Most people got their real names from their parents, who gave them mixed pieces of their own names. But The Boy did not know his parents' names. He did not even know the names of the people who raised him.

The only people in his life who had ever _really_ shown him anything like parental love, whose names he actually knew, were the couple he had betrayed by waiting too long to tell the truth. Could he possibly take their names?

They would never know if he did.

But would it be stealing from them one last time?

"Can I ask you something...?"

"Sure."

"The couple I told you about, the ones who gave us a place to live before my parents tried to steal their livelihood... If I took on their names, would I be stealing from them?"

N'vanik leaned back thoughtfully. "Do you think they'd consider it stealing?"

"I don't know..." The Boy turned his gaze downward. "They were so kind to me... And ... I saved their animals by telling them the truth before it was too late, but... I was lying to them about why we were there the whole time before that.

"For a little while, I really thought we'd stay there forever. I wish we had."

N'vanik sighed, very softly. Scorch it. He couldn't help feeling sorry for this kid and there was nothing that set off his instincts for danger. "I think taking their names would be a nice way to honor their kindness, to make yourself into the kind of person you want to be."

That was it. His name would be his reminder. If he bore their names, whatever he did would reflect back on them. So he would have to reflect well.

The Boy nodded.

"Then I'll be..." He thought for a moment about the best way to combine them. Maybe even the name they would have given their own child. "Hayazi."

"Sounds like a good name," N'vanik said. "You know how to write?" Being born holdless he might not have gotten any kind of education.

"I'm not the best at it, but... they taught me a little," said Hayazi. "I can write my name." _His_ name.

N'vanik slid a piece of paper and a pen over. "Write it down and I'll get your records updated." He could tell the kid was lonely, starving for affection, and that brief moment of frozen fear . . . N'vanik knew that look, knew what it felt like to wait for a blow. He had a lot on common with Hayazi, although this boy seemed much sweeter than N'vanik had been at that age. "Welcome to Dolphin Cove, Hayazi."

Hayazi relaxed with relief at hearing not only his new name, but also the words of welcome that meant he had passed the Weyrleader's test. He had fully escaped from... everything.

He wrote down his name on the paper -- his name! -- and then slid it back to N'vanik.

"Thank you, sir."

Last updated on the July 29th 2025

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Eyes Peeled for Another Pierce