Opportunities

Writers: Vix, Kaysea
Date Posted: 19th August 2007

Characters: Taia, K'sper
Description: Taia offers to help K'sper oil Bentith and they discuss life opportunities and where they may take you.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 5, day 5 of Turn 4

Leaning back on her elbows, Taia stretched out on the bank and watched the dragons and riders busy with ablutions. Her day had been long, so many smaller beasts had been brought in during the course of the day. And tomorrow didn't seem to be much better when she had looked at the work schedule, four more sterilizations - three canine and one feline. She supposed she shouldn't be upset about it, but she wanted some excitement instead of the mundane and few smaller beasts presented with exciting maladies.

She had been so lost in thought she hadn't realised she had been watching a brown and his rider leave the water, until all she could see was brown hide in front of her.

She recognised the dragon, but his name escaped her. Maybe he was in her fathers wing, she wondered? Pushing herself back upright, she pulled her legs in, and wrapped her arms around her knees, watching as K'sper appeared on her side of his dragon, so it must be Bentith, she mused.

He noted her presence with surprise. "Oh, hello there, Taia." He turned to address the brown dragon aloud. "You know, you really should watch where you're going - you almost ran someone down over here."

}:I knew she was there. She should choose more carefully where she sits.:{ K'sper rolled his eyes. "Dragons. They sometimes think that they're the only important ones."

"Well in this day and age, I guess they are." she laughed as she pushed herself up from the sand. "Need a hand with the oiling?" she asked, walking closer, and stroking Bentith's face gently, "It's always a messy business." She could vaguely remember helping her parents with their dragons when she was younger - or was it some distant dream, she really wasn't sure.

"I've barely started so I certainly won't say no." He glanced toward her with amusement. "Though it's rare to have a journeyman Beastcrafter offer to help."

"Well its my time of rest, and resting rarely sits well on me." she laughed. "Besides, oiling Bentith will be a change for the work I have been doing all day." she smiled, and filled her hands with the sweet smelling oil K'sper used to oil Bentith with.

"If it weren't for this one," at this K'sper slapped the brown's side, "I'd probably be doing much of the same work as you, though probably still as a drudge."

"Really? You were interested in becoming a beastcrafter?" Taia's eyes widened in surprise. "Believe me, on days like today I wish I'd found a lifemate on the Sands, even one this size." she patted Bentith affectionately.

"Well, I was interested in working with beasts, but didn't think I'd do well in any type of apprenticeship. Bentith convinced me that I was good for something."

"I'm sure you would have succeeded in any craft you had chosen, it just so happens you picked the one every child grows up aspiring to." she rubbed the oil into the dragons hide, enjoying the soporific effect it was having on her.

"More like he picked me," admitted the brownrider, rubbing a little harder in a spot Bentith had complained was itching. "But I was born of a drudge and really couldn't see any further than that, though I suppose that crafts were open to me."

"I don't see any reason you shouldn't have been permitted to craft to the Beastcrafthall. I know Corder encourages all ages to consider - he did me, kept me out of mischief when I was younger, for which my fostermother was eternally grateful."

"That's how it should be, with all encouraged. I suppose that no one really did that with me, trying to get me to see the possibilities." K'sper stood back to survey the spot he had just oiled, nodding to Bentith's assurance that it felt better before turning to grin at Taia. "Until I was Searched, that is. Fortunately, I accepted that invitation and here I am."

"You made a wise choice in accepting the Search." she nodded, coating her hands again, and turning back to Bentith's side. "But for me, much as I wish some days that I had been Searched, I really couldn't be anywhere else than where I am right now, and I really do love my craft." Was she trying to convince herself?

"You were wise in accepting the opportunities presented to you as well," he put in. "There are many who have not had the good fortune that we have, especially women. I sometimes wonder what my sister would have done had she not been at a Hold and restricted as to her choices."

"Your sister?"

The dragonrider nodded. "I have a sister back at Opal Cove Hold. She's much smarter than I am and probably would have succeeded at anything she had attempted. But because of 'what was expected,' she wed early and after her husband's death went to work in the Hold laundry. There should have been so much more available to her."

"And unless she's prepared to move to a Weyr, or find a sympathetic Master, she really doesn't have any chance." Taia pulled a face, "I was fortunately, one of the lucky ones, born in the Weyr so my opportunities were endless. Would your sister consider moving to a Weyr - here maybe?" she asked, wondering.

K'sper cocked his head thoughtfully. "I've never asked her. . . but no, probably not. My mother is still there and would never leave. Of course, if my sister felt that her daughter were facing discrimination. . . but that's turns away."

"What she may not do for herself, she may well do for her child." Taia nodded. "My parents allowed me the choice, but then again, I was brought up in the Weyr, so the choice was there for me regardless."

"I really should mention it to her sometime," he conceded. "And I really should visit - I haven't been there for quite a while and have no idea what has been happening in the family."

"I take it she's too old to Impress?" Taia asked, admiring the way the dragons hide caught the light and reflected it now that the oil covered him.

"Too old, Holdbred, and no dragon ever showed interest in her. Impression isn't an option for her."

"Fair enough." Taia nodded, continuing to smooth her oily hands across the hide before her. "And your niece, how old is she?"

"Zerbia's only four turns old," he told her. "She really has no worries for now, though it would probably be good if I visited there more often and brought her here to stay now and then."

"I'm sure she'd love it here, most children do." Taia nodded in agreement, thinking of R'haran's new brood, and how they had settled into Weyr life. "And there are plenty of children for her to play with. She thought of Drisha, about the same age. "Actually I could name quite a few young ones that could make her feel welcome, if you ever did bring her here for a visit." she smiled brightly, coating her hands in more oils.

The brownrider nodded thoughtfully. "I think I will ask my sister and my niece to come for a visit. My mother, too, though I doubt that she'd consent to leave the Hold for any length of time."

"I'd like to meet them K'sper, if they do visit." she smiled across at him.

He returned her smile. "I'll be sure that you do."

Last updated on the October 20th 2008

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