Hi… Um, well, this is awkward. I see I haven't updated this story in about three months. But I'm updating now! You can thank TheDreamerLady for kicking me off my lazy bum and writing this chapter. I dunno if it's any good, but it's about time I updated, hm? I have excuses, but no one really wants to hear them.
Oh, and it is in this chapter that I introduce my omigoshplot that is ohsodramatic and stuff. I don't know if it's any good, but yeah. Any input at all is greatly appreciated.
So, again, my apologies, and please tell me what you think.
(Also, this chapter is sadly short on Kaelbrith. I like writing her, but she doesn't have any lines.)
"Ow!" St'kay yelped, jumping backward as he collided with a solid figure while he walked through the Weyr Bowl.
"Mmf." The person emitted a strange, muffled sound, attempting to keep the volume down.
"Sorry," St'kay said sheepishly, backing away a little more and briefly looking up. He gave an inward groan as he recognized 'Tuhh-naww'.
"You're St'kay, righ'?" T'nas said, blinking as he recognized the other dragonman. "Kaelbrith's rider?"
"You remember?" St'kay said, unable to hide his surprise. T'nas hadn't even acknowledged his existence when they'd flown with A'loyn.
"I r'member names 'n faces easy," T'nas said haughtily. St'kay ground his teeth.
"You happen t' be related to K'ronz?" he wondered aloud.
"K'ronz?" T'nas snorted. "That arrogant lump?"
"You think he's arrogant!" St'kay exclaimed, the words flying from his mouth before he could think about their impact.
T'nas arched a delicate eyebrow. "What're you implying?"
What am I implying? Isn't it obvious? "Well… um, sorry," St'kay mumbled.
But T'nas seemed stubbornly set on St'kay's 'implication' that he was arrogant. "Why do you think I'm stuck-up?" he demanded.
"'Cos you are," St'kay replied truthfully.
T'nas's eyes flashed in anger.
"What?" St'kay snapped hotly, his temper firing up unreasonably.
"You don't even know me!" T'nas hissed. "So you flew with me once!"
"ONCE WAS ENOUGH!" St'kay shouted.
"Whoa, whoa," said a familiar, deep voice, and the two arguing dragonriders looked up to see V'lian frowning at them holding up a hand to shade his eyes from the sun. "What's the matter here? Why in the name of the Egg are you two screeching at each other in the middle of the Bowl?"
"He's saying I'm arrogant!"
"He's being annoying!"
"You sound like two bickering holdchildren," V'lian said sternly. "Grow up, lads! You're dragonmen now. Act the part!"
"Yes, please act like a dragonman," St'kay snarled under his breath to T'nas.
"If you will," growled Ayroth's rider, jamming a hand through his dark hair.
V'lian rolled his eyes and walked away, while T'nas brushed past St'kay, making sure to let his shoulder smash into the greenrider's.
"Between's easy," St'kay commented, popping a slice of wherry meat into his mouth.
"Toldja so," B'nor said, grinning and reaching across T'snis to grab some tubers.
"Can Kae chew firestone yet?" asked R'lern.
"Oh, yeah, we did that today too," St'kay said proudly. "And she's almost back to full strength."
"Dragons heal quick," T'snis said wisely.
Just then, M'lil raced in, finally flopping down at the table, his face split in a wide grin and his eyes sparkling.
"What took you so long?" B'nor asked brown Skith's rider.
"Guess what!" M'lil all but squeaked. Without waiting for a reply, he blurted, "I'm in D'maz's Wing!"
"Really?" Food fell forgotten from forks as everyone gasped and leaned forward.
"Yep!" M'lil said proudly. "I was walking in and D'maz just walked up to me and said something like 'I've been given permission to fly with you…' or something. Either way, Skith and I have our Wing now!"
Before long, almost all the riders who had been in St'kay's weyrling class had been assigned to their Wings. This also meant that they didn't sit at the weyrling table any more. To avoid embarrassment for the as-yet-unassigned St'kay, A'loyn told him that he could sit with B'nor at another table.
"Guess what," B'nor said one night at dinner, after St'kay had finished a passionate argument with another rider.
"What?"
"T'nas is in my Wing."
"What?" St'kay said, a bit of meat slipping off his fork. "I feel bad for you! How come you never said anything before?"
"'Cos I didn't know. But he showed up at our meeting today and Wingleader A'lask introduced him. He's gotta be the one ya told me about. He's annoying."
"No kidding me," St'kay mumbled, rolling his eyes.
"But…" B'nor absently pushed a tuber around on his plate with his fork, avoiding his cousin's gaze. "Have you started to think about…?"
"Yeah?" St'kay asked, glancing at B'nor in confusion when the brownrider trailed off.
"…About Kaelbrith mating."
St'kay blinked. He shrugged, gulping more meat down with gusto as he felt his neck, cheeks, and ears heat up when he felt all his fellow riders' eyes on him. They weren't really close friends with any other greenriders, so he was the only rider of a female dragon with them.
"What does that have to do with T'nas?" he asked lightly. His face immediately colored as he jumped to the obvious conclusion.
"Whoa, whoa, no, hold on!" cried B'nor, lifting his hands as St'kay began to choke violently on the food he'd been attempting to swallow. T'snis thumped him enthusiastically on the back. "He just made me think of it."
"Why?" gagged out St'kay as T'snis pounded him on the back with his fist.
"Dunno. Well?"
"I mean… I never really think about it. But I'll do whatever I hafta for Kaelbrith," St'kay said firmly.
B'nor and the others nodded quietly.
"I would too."
T'nas leaned back against Ayroth's soft, slowly rising and falling side. The brown's neck was curled around so his right eye could stare at his rider unblinkingly.
You are angry.
"Because I'm in a Wing with the most pathetic Wingleader ever!"
What is wrong with Shellamith's rider?
T'nas shook his head, sighing impatiently. "You wouldn't understand."
I wouldn't?
"No. It's a human thing."
Ah. Ayroth looked up at his partner, eye spinning faster as he sent a rush of loving trust across their mental link. You say that a lot. But I believe you.
"Of course." T'nas stroked the hide of his dragon. "Why should I lie to you?"
You wouldn't.
Another pang raced through T'nas. "That's right," he said, confirming it as much to himself as to his dragon. "I wouldn't. I would never."
Soon, Ayroth drifted off into an easy sleep, though his rider despaired at ever reaching such a state. His mind was swirling.
Hiding something from your dragon was a terrible thing to do, especially when it was something like this, something that slowly was tearing you apart by the seams. Your dragon was there to help you with things like that, to sympathize and comfort you, to share your pain and ease it. But T'nas had always had difficulty in opening up, and even after Impression, he'd kept his skill at hiding things.
Ayroth's innocent trust was unnerving and sent pangs of guilt shooting through his rider on a daily basis.
But if he looked at it, T'nas realized he had no other option. What he and Telgar were doing was… Well, it wasn't something he believed Ayroth would understand. Or agree with. True, the dragon was obliged to love and admire his rider, but… There were limits. Well, was what T'nas was doing wrong?
Shards, he hated thinking about this. His thoughts just kept running in circles, dancing through his mind and taunting him.
He groaned and jammed his hands through his hair, and closed his eyes, the image of Ayroth's trusting gaze burned into his eyelids.
Kaelbrith was soon flying smoothly and strongly, her wings and body back to full strength and health. She would never be a large dragon, her frame still thin and wiry, as she had been at hatching, but her hide glowed in indication of a well-fed, well-cared for dragon.
Indeed, it wasn't long before K'lamion, rider of bronze Kaachith, approached St'kay one day as Kaelbrith fed.
"Hello, green Kaelbrith's rider," said K'lamion warmly and companionably, sitting himself down easily beside St'kay.
Rather overwhelmed, St'kay spluttered, "Hello, Wingleader."
"She's a pretty thing, isn't she?" murmured K'lamion, his eyes on Kaelbrith as she latched her talons onto a herdbeast, killing it.
The usual glow of proud admiration flooded St'kay's stomach. "Thank you," he said with quiet pride.
"She flies well, too, doesn't she," continued K'lamion, his tone calm, while St'kay's heartbeat sped up. "I've seen you two. Beautiful to watch."
"Thank you," St'kay said again.
"Perhaps you'd like to join our Wing," said K'lamion in an offhand kind of tone, watching as Kaelbrith dug her snout greedily into her kill. Kaachith was swooping down on another herdbeast, ready to dispatch it.
St'kay's stomach went whump. "Really?" he gasped, his fingers tightening on the grass. K'lamion was known to be an excellent Wingleader, strict but down-to-Pern, and he treated his riders like equals.
"Yes." A slight amused smile flitted around the corners of K'lamion's mouth. "What do you say?"
One could hardly turn down an offer to join a Wing! "Thank you very much, Wingleader," St'kay said respectfully, remembering his manners and managing not to stutter. "We'd like that. We'd like it a lot."