An Inquisitive Mind

Writers: Devin, Heather
Date Posted: 28th May 2012

Characters: J'kri, W'ser
Description: The candidates comes to ask some questions of the Weyrdragonhealer.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 8, day 3 of Turn 6

W'ser

It wasn't rare for W'ser to receive youngsters into his office to
answer questions about Dragonhealing. Some were Candidates, eager to
learn more about what they could be looking forward to in the future,
and others were considering taking up the noble craft itself. As the
Weyrdragonhealer, however, W'ser had to really work on his schedule in
order to fit some of these youngesters in. Today he was meeting with
one of the youths named Jykri, a young man that he'd met a couple of
times before.

The boy remembered to pause and knock, then wait for permission.
Sometimes he got too excited, or distracted, and would just burst in
on people. He didn't think that would go over well with the
Weyrdragonhealer. When he was told he could enter, he stepped in with
a smile on his face. "Hello, sir. Thank you for taking time to meet
with me. I know you're busy."

W'ser smiled at the young Candidate before him, remembering when he,
himself, had been at that stage in life, "It's no trouble at all,
Jykri, pleased have a seat. I understand you want to ask me some
questions today?"

"Yes." He took the offered seat. "First I want to ask if there are any
good books on dragon anatomy that I can borrow, or if you can help me
get some from the records room."

"There are a couple of books that can get you started, they're created
mostly for apprentice dragonhealers. If you don't want to lug around
those, however, there are individual hides that can get you started on
basic dragon anatomy. I, myself, have a few diagrams of dragon anatomy
that I've created, if you would like one." A common practice for the
Weyrdragonhealer, was to take out a blank piece of parchment and
quickly sketch and label a dragon. W'ser liked the practice of
sketching, and being able to quickly label the parts was good for
training his instincts and reflexes when it came to diagnosing and
treating emergency situations.

"Oh yes, please."

W'ser pulled open his top, right desk drawer and pulled out one of the
diagrams he'd drawn, "Here you are, Jykri. What other questions can I
answer for you?"

He had several, so he just said the first one that came to mind. "Why
do dragons' eye colors change with their mood? How do the _eyes_ know
what a dragon is thinking?"

"Well now, those are some good questions, Jykri. The first I have no
solid answer for, mostly because none of us know what truly causes the
dragon's eyes to change color. We know that the color and speed of
their eyes is directly linked to the emotions that they're feeling. I
would speculate that the chemical balance and brain waves that each
emotion a dragon feels sends indicators to the eyes that change their
colors. I've asked Branth this question before myself and even the
dragons don't know."

Jykri frowned, thoughtful. He'd learned that while he could find
answers to most of his questions, there were some things he might
never know. That didn't satisfy him, but if the Weyrdragonhealer
didn't know, the Candidate didn't know who else to ask. "Hmm, okay. Do
you know why the different types of dragons are determined by their
color? Why can't a queen be green? Or a blue be female? Runners, for
example, they're lots of colors. You can have a big white runner, or a
small one. A female roan or a male. The color is just a color."

W'ser grinned at the question, it wasn't an uncommon one either, but
also another one without a very solid answer, "It's simply genetics.
When the first dragons were created their gender, and color were
determined by the creator. Greens were genetically rendered infertile
because they're needed to be workers, and they're designed to be much
smaller and more agile in Threadfall. Now, mind you, in my opinion a
green _could_ be considered a Queen _if_ she could clutch, but she
can't and never will. Only Gold dragons, who are naturally fertile,
can be considered a Queen. Blues can't be females for the same reasons
as before-- they were designed to be males. Over the Turns these
genetics have only mutated to allow the dragons to adapt in size. In
the records you can see that our dragons are much larger than those
first created, but still hold true to gender and color. I'm not sure
_why_ they were created to be what they are, or why they decided that
browns were males rather than females; only that they've been the way
they are for thousands of Turns."

"Hmm. I'd design them differently. Too bad we lost the technology to
do that. Do you think we'll ever get to that level again? We've lost
so much." Their ancestors had been capable of amazing things.

"Each generation is more advanced than the last, so who's to say we
won't achieve that level of knowledge once more? I for one like the
simplicity of how things work now. But then, that probably just sounds
like old man talk to you." W'ser grinned as he leaned back in his
chair.

Jykri smiled back and nodded. "I think there's always room for improvement."

"That's a very good attitude to have as a future dragonrider, Jykri.
Speaking of, how is Candidacy going for you?" W'ser questioned
conversationally.

"Thank you, sir. It's going well enough. I'm still a bit overwhelmed
with how different it is, and having so many dragons around all the
time." They were so huge and so beautiful.

"You are certainly right about that." W'ser agreed, part of what made
the Weyr so beautiul was the colorful variety of dragons that it
housed. Clearing his throat, the Weyrdragonhealer folded his hands,
"Is there anything else that I can answer for you? If not I need to be
getting to my next appointment." He smiled.

"Oh, of course. Don't let me keep you, I could probably ask questions
and talk forever." Jykri smiled. "I'll do some reading and studying
and come with a list of questions next time."

W'ser smiled as well, "Excellent. I hope that I have been of some help
to you today." As Weyrdragonhealer, the brownrider didn't have all of
the answers to some of the complex questions, but if your dragon's
life was endangered, there was no one better than W'ser.

"Absolutely. Thank you, sir."

Last updated on the May 29th 2012

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An Inquisitive Mind