Disclaimer: The Dragonriders of Pern belongs to Anne McCaffery, I make no claim to own it. This is a work of fanfiction which I make absolutely no money from. Though the world is borrowed, the plot and characters are all mine.
(A/N: BTW, this chapter has NOT gone through my beta-reader, so please excuse any mistakes there may be.)
Who the Dragon Heeds
Chapter Four-Reflections
Kelthere woke up the next morning sore all over, and he began to regret last night's fight with F'kyr. As he got ready, he only hoped the new dragonrider was feeling as bad this morning as he was.
It was early enough that the Great Hall was empty. Even the cooks and drudges hadn't started making breakfast quite yet, and the rest of the Weyr was still sleeping off last night's festivities and wine.
Kelthere found that F'kyr was already waiting for him, a sour look on his face. Kelthere took a savage pride in the fact that F'kyr was walking with an obvious limp.
F'kyr glanced over at him as he arrived and scowled. "Come on, Kelthere, you're not leaving me to do all this by myself."
"I thought slacking off was more like something you'd do," Kelthere shot back. F'kyr didn't answer, just raised an eyebrow skeptically and tossed a broom to Kelthere while he went to fill a bucket with water.
They worked side by side without a word for awhile, but the silence was starting to get to Kelthere. "What's that Weyrlingmaster like?" he found himself asking.
F'kyr shot him a look of annoyance, but all the same, he replied, "An ass."
Kelthere snorted despite himself. "Thread must be falling in between; we actually seem to agree on something."
"If you were anyone but your aggravating and unpleasant self, I'd almost envy your not having to deal with him as often." F'kyr found a wet washcloth colliding with the side of his head before he could say anymore.
The physical activity made the time go by faster, and they didn't make much more conversation until they had finished.
F'kyr straightened up and, leaning against one of the long tables, looked at Kelthere. "Alright, Kelthere," the bronzerider said with a sigh, "I know you don't like me much, and I can assure you I don't think much of you either--" Kelthere bit back a smirk; he doubted F'kyr cared about anyone he met, unless it was in a mirror. "--but I don't particularly want to spend more time like this, either.
"K'rul's not going to just ignore me trading insults with you and provoking each other, he'll make my life more difficult. How about we go our separate ways from now on and ignore each other."
Kelthere almost gave an incredulous snort, but F'kyr was being fully serious.
"You and your other friends stop looking to pick fights and spitting out insults, and I'll do the same to you." F'kyr added.
Well, this was a strange turn of events. He shifted his weight from leg to leg uncomfortably and answered F'kyr with a nod. "As long as you leave us alone."
F'kyr gave a nod of his own. "Fine." He turned to leave the Great Hall, but a familiar, massive form was standing in the nearest doorway.
Kelthere and F'kyr both gave a start in surprise as the Weyrlingmaster came towards them. He just looked around at their work and gave a satisfied nod of his head. "That'll do. Ye two can get outta here now so the drudges can get to their work."
Kelthere left gladly enough, and F'kyr was about to do the same, when K'rul spoke out again and stopped him. "Wait a bit longer, bronzerider." F'kyr reluctantly stopped and turned to face the Weyrlingmaster.
The man's brown-gold eyes stared into F'kyr's own, and they seemed to be calculating. "Do ye know why bronzeriders are so important?"
"Because they ride bronze dragons?" F'kyr said, not entirelyserious, and by the narrowing of K'rul's eyes, he supposed it was the wrong answer.
"Bronzeriders are supposed to be the leaders of the Weyr. It's expected of them. And a leader is not going to be a good one if he doesn't have the respect of the other riders—and other Weyrfolk. The bronzeriders are the ones that help the Weyrleaders and lead the Wings. They're also an example for all the rest of the riders. Which means," K'rul added with a pointed look at the young bronzerider, "That there's going to be a lot of people that are gonna have their eyes on ye and how ye behave. And they're gonna remember it, for a long, long time." With a final pat on the shoulder, K'rul left F'kyr alone to think about that.
Syderi woke up earlier than she desired the next morning, and with a groan, reluctantly opened her eyes. A mound of gold hung over her head as Feyth stared down at her curiously. "If you are awake now, I'm dreadfully hungry and really can't wait. If you please?" The dragon said, not without an edge of irony in her 'voice'.
Syderi's mouth formed into an 'O' as she gasped. "Oh, Feyth! I'm sorry."
The gold dragon sat back, her eyes whirling softly with pleasure now. "It is alright." And just like that, all was forgiven.
Syderi couldn't hold back her grin. She quickly climbed out of bed and got dressed. In the female weyrling barracks, the other girls were doing the same as their dragons woke them up with their hungry pleadings. A few of the green dragons wandered about and batted playfully at each other, but for the most part, they stuck close to their riders, impatient for food.
With one hand resting lightly on Feyth's back, Syderi found Coyota in the throng of dragons and riders approaching the doors of the barracks. Coyota (whose green Oritith was one of the dragons in a playful mood this morning) waved cheerfully at her. "Good morning!" she said.
Syderi returned her greeting with a nod, then asked, "Where are we supposed to go to feed these empty bellies, anyway?" She patted Feyth's neck, who gave a snort.
Coyota pointed to the doors again. They were now close enough for Syderi to see outside into the Weyrbowl, where several servants were helping the Weyrlingmaster set out buckets of pre-sliced meat for the hatchlings. The Weyrlingmaster gave a smile once all of the dragons and riders were outside, and directed them toward the buckets of meat.
"The Weyr tradition is that on the first day, ye get a break. But after this, ye get to prepare the meat yerself," the Weyrlingmaster told them.
Syderi glanced around to see how the girls (and the boys, who had joined them) reacted to this piece of news. Several of the girls, as well as a few of the boys, looked faintly ill as they watched their dragons devour the raw meat. Beside her, Coyota gave a snort of derision at their expressions.
"They'll get used to it soon enough, if they expect to keep their dragons fed."
Feyth paid absolutely no attention to them as she devoured her second meal ever. She was not a particularly fastidious eater; before long, her jaws and talons were stained a deep red, giving her a frightful appearance, though once the food was gone, she began to lick the blood from her hide in an almost feline-like fashion.
Many of the other dragons were no less messy, and once the dragons had finished their meals, the weyrlings were led toward the lake to wash and oil their dragons. Having finished their meal, the dragons were already getting tired again, and began to become sluggish and lazy. Feyth grumbled as Syderi began to rub the oil onto her hide.
"Can't I go to sleep now? I'm tired," she complained.
"No, you may not. You're a bit too large to carry back to the barracks easily. Be patient please, this shouldn't take much longer," Syderi replied.
Reluctantly, Feyth said, "As you wish."
Coyota seemed to be having a similar conversation with Oritith beside her. "Come on, now, stay awake. No, I will not carry you back to the barracks, you spoiled thing." There was a pause, and then Coyota burst out with a laugh. "Light as a feather, are you? Hardly, after you've just been stuffed full of meat."
Syderi and Coyota managed to coax their sleepy dragons back to their beds. Now that the dragons were taken care of, they had some free time to do as they wished before more lessons, and Syderi decided to find Kelthere and talk to him, for she hadn't seen him since Impression. As she left the weyrling barracks, she passed Nystai—who was carrying a soundly sleeping Polaenth in her arms with a sheepish smile.
Truth be told, Syderi was at a loss for where to find Kelthere. The other boys in the candidate barracks told her that he had gotten up early that morning for some chore, but they hadn't seen him since. She really didn't know him well enough, however, to know where he would have gone.
She wandered through the halls, visiting the library, the Weyrbowl, and the Lower Caverns in search of him without success. She finally found him in the Great Hall, and he was not alone.
Syderi had been in the Weyr for the better part of six months, and she could recognize most of the people she had been a candidate with by face if not by name. D'nak and D'dox she had no trouble recognizing, and she was not surprised that they had paid Kelthere a visit. The girl beside D'dox, she was not as sure about; she was a quiet, unobtrusive girl who had not shown any particular interest in making friends, and thus had stayed very much in the background.
"Come on, Kelthere, you've been avoiding us since the Hatching," D'nak was saying, "You're not going to keep this up forever, are you?"
Kelthere appeared to be trying to ignore his friend as he drained a cup of klah. Frustrated, D'nak finally gave up. "Fine then. Be that way," he said as he stalked off. D'dox gave Kelthere a searching look before leading his new friend away.
Syderi blinked. Apparently she'd chosen a bad time to visit Kelthere. She considered leaving the Great Hall discretely, but then Kelthere noticed her standing there. His eyes widened. "Syderi! I didn't notice you," he said. He flashed her a quick grin, but then it was gone again. "What are you doing here?"
She gave a shrug. "Oh, I was just wandering around and saw you and your friends," she said, and then paused hesitantly.
Kelthere's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, sorry, I guess I'm just not in a friendly mood right now." He drummed his fingers on the table and grinned again. "So, how are you doing?"
Syderi couldn't help but grin. "Wonderful. You should meet Feyth sometime, I'm sure she'd love you," she said, half-teasingly.
Kelthere's face, however, went blank. "Yeah, maybe."
Syderi realized what he must be thinking about, and sat down beside him. "Hey, there's always the next clutch. Alerra told me her Vesengarth's supposed to rise in about a year from now-"
"No," Kelthere interrupted her. "Not for me. I'll be twenty-one by the time the next clutch hatches," he explained.
Syderi nodded in understanding. High Reaches Weyr's candidate age limit cut off at 20. "At least you'll be able to go home and see your family. They must miss you."
Kelthere snorted at that. "Not likely. I'm a middle child in a large group of brothers and sister, and not their favorite, either. Trust me, I don't miss my home hold."
Syderi pursed her lips. Why did he have to make everything so hard? There was a faint stirring at the back of her mind. She guessed that Feyth was waking up again. "I've got to go take care of Feyth. See you around, Kelthere. Maybe we can meet up sometime," she asked hopefully.
Kelthere gave her another smile that disappeared as he stood up. She almost wished he would stop doing that; his smiles were beginning to seem false. "Yeah, maybe. If you're not too busy with your dragon and your fellow riders, that is." He walked away and left her standing there.
(A/N: Yes, I know it's been a long time since the last update. I've finally decided to do what I probably should have done from the start; I'm going to concentrate on finishing the story before worrying about getting anymore chapters out. I hate knowing I promised an update and then letting it fall for months at a time while people are patiently waiting on it. Well, assuming anyone's still waiting...
This doesn't mean I intend on abandoning the story; I have a clear idea of how the story's gonna go, I just need to write it. I'd much prefer to start posting the story online once I have it actually finished and I know that I won't have people waiting ridiculously long amounts of time because I haven't written anything. Plus, there are a few small things I still want to change in the chapters already out.
Once I finish the writing, I'll start posting chapters again as they're edited, and it won't take so long. Until then, be patient please. If I should get to the point where I am sure I can get chapters out on a regular schedule, I might start updating early, but for now, Who the Dragon Heeds is going on a hiatus.)