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Mine, I will be tired soon. It was Uktenath's way, that. Not the complaint of being tired, or the worry of growing tired while the pair were on a walk away from the Weyr. He saw the problem on the horizon; he knew that His should know about it. So he informed him, with no more stress of the oncoming problem than necessary, so that His could plan for his dragonet needing to rest in the near future.

"Of course you're going to be tired. Shards, Uktenath! I still can't believe you ate as much of that herdbeast as you did!" O'asis exclaimed, shaking his head. It hadn't been his idea to go out on this walk afterwards, either. He'd been more than satisfied by how Uktenath had filled his belly, been patient and obliging while O'asis had washed him off afterwards, been oiled. Then Uktenath had asked that they go out. When any other hatchling would have called it a day and gone to take a nap, he'd wanted to stretch his legs, exercise, make himself a little stronger for the next day.

And then the dragonling had informed him he'd needed to rest in that reluctant deadpan, like it were some tiresome chore! Shards!

Still amazed, O'asis shielded his eyes from the sun and looked skywards. It seemed pretty clear now, but rains could come unexpectedly on the island, and it wouldn't do if they got caught too far from the Weyr. "C'mon. There's a little lake not too far from here, near where the herdbeasts are kept. It's got some good shade, so you can take a nap there if you want before we head back."

Uktenath said nothing in reply, which was about what O'asis had expected. The little bronze wasn't half as talkative as his lifemate; he didn't have to be, after all. They had that understanding between them already, that O'asis could be the personable one, and Uktenath be the observant one - and between each other, O'asis always knew when Uktenath meant yes or no, and did not have to wait uncomfortably until the bronze was forced to needless words.

So O'asis grinned and began leading the way, the dragonet close behind.

Arriving at the lake, Uktenath was getting tired, and was thinking wistfully of where there might be a soft, quiet place in the grass where he could spread out his wings for the sun and doze off for a while. He was dreaming already of the quiet sloshing of the lake, and the constant whine of the bugs to lull him. His stomach was full, and his legs and head were growing heavy. He had done well today, to eat as he did, and then walk as he did. Now he could do well again to rest.

O'asis was aware of his dragon's needs, in a way both natural and inexplicable. And so when he saw Annelie and Yansanth - Yansanth, who was so big now! - he hesitated. He would like to call out to them, of course, and speak with them a while; but Uktenath was tired, and it certainly wasn't as though his wanting to be sociable overrode Uktenath's very obvious need for--

Mine, let's. And there it was; the little bronze had seen the gold, had seen O'asis's considerations, and seen right through them. Uktenath looked up to His evenly, and told him, I am not so tired after all.

"... I don't remember teaching you to lie," O'asis mused, eying the young dragon.

It is not a lie. I am not so tired that I would not meet them, Uktenath elaborated rationally. He was pulling himself up now, straightening himself out - ever the stoic soldier, and if there was a queen involved, even more so. It wasn't just lazy for him to prefer rest over greeting a queen; it was undutiful.

Even understanding this on some level, though, O'asis was reluctant to agree to it. He could introduce Uktenath to Annelie and her gold later, but the bronze really was ready to recharge, and....

Uktenath was already proceeding forward, no longer waiting for O'asis's approval. He'd already found enough to know that O'asis didn't disapprove so strongly - or else, that on some level, perhaps the rider actually agreed with the dragon's priorities. Either way, he went to join the pair by the lake during their storytime, forcing His to follow.

Once he'd gotten his sigh out of the way, the blond waved a hand to the pair. "Annelie, Yansanth! 'Lo!" O'asis called, jogging a bit to keep up with Uktenath's quick pace.

Arriving near the Goldrider and her Queen, Uktenath slowed at last; for a little dragon that was very near his naptime, he could move quite fast! He answered Yansanth's greeting with one of his own. No matter how he tried, he was simply too young to make it the full-throated rumble that he imagined it could be; it came out light, awkward and chirpish, caught somewhere between a dragon's bellow and a flit's cry.

The little bronze frowned. He was not much for show, but perhaps he needed more practice in certain respects....

"Annelie!" O'asis greeted her again, his voice breathy after having to keep up with Uktenath's unexpected spurt of speed. Struggling to recompose his airways at the same time as greet his favored acquaintance, O'asis swallowed and pulled himself together. "It's a nice day out - you guys want some company?"

I am Uktenath, the young bronze informed the Queen. This close to her, he found, he had to pull up his neck and lift his head to address her properly. Even with Yansanth obliging him by lowering her head, she was a good deal older than he, and a great deal bigger! He wondered how long it would be until he was so large as she was - but of course, the chances were good that he would never be quite so large....

A thought occurred to the little dragon, and it seemed as though it were one worth questioning. Yansanth, Yours and Mine know each other. That makes them friends, doesn't it? he asked. The logic that followed such a declaration was one he had been learning gradually, from his dealings with S'van and Galliath, J'riar and Ianquith, Nandeli and Reneneth; if His was friends with a rider, then he was expected to be the friend of their dragon. So if His was friends with Annelie, then that meant that he and this towering gold....

"It's O'asis now, and Uktenath," the ex-Trader informed Annelie, somewhat awkwardly as he worked out how to respond to her greeting (which to him, seemed very formal - Annelie certainly wasn't born on the road like he was, that was for sure!) He settled on a quick, uncertain bend at the waist, about as graceful in his expression as Uktenath had been imposing in his, and then quickly turned his attention to forwarding the conversation further. "So what was that story you were telling? One of the Harper tales?"

Somehow, O'asis remembered Annelie being a bit less... flustered than this. Of course, his impression of her was mostly crafted from the moment she'd begun to make it clear that she did not approve of his encouraging Yansanth's love of tunnelsnakes, with little regard paid to her before that point - otherwise, he might well have remembered her feeble attempts to dissuade him earlier. But he couldn't help feeling entertained by her light blushes, her staggered speech, her unnecessary apologies. Definitely a holdfolk, he appraised her lightly - neither the confidence of a seaborn, or the shamelessness of a weyrborn, it was plain to see what was left!

"Ah? Good," he approved her with a nod. "The best stories come from outside the Halls. What's it about?"

As the queen confirmed Uktenath's suspicions, he felt an immediate joy. It was one expressed by little more than a whirl of eye-color and a tiny, pleased trill, perhaps, but on the Uktenath scale, that was just short of a bounce in the air. Then that makes us friends as well, Uktenath concluded with certainty, bobbing his head politely. He might not understand yet what "friends" entailed, but he was very certain it was good things, and for that, he was satisfied.

But would Yansanth also be happy, to be friends with such a small creature as he was? Uktenath felt the slightest doubt; surely, she could have friends with dragons that were older than him!Someday, I will be very big as well, he reminded her, pushing out his chest.

O'asis's brow furrowed as he attempted to pick apart the vague details of Annelie's story - two people? Stuff? Story things? Shards, what was he supposed to get out of that?

But he wasn't bothered, of course. "Ah! Of course, that one! I know that story," he claimed boastfully. "How does it begin... it was the ninth Pass, and there was a weaver girl who fell in love with a Harper. At noon every day, she would leave the Crafthall and listen to his songs, and at dusk every evening, she would sneak beneath his window at the Harperhall to hear him practice." The blond paused here, looking to Annelie skeptically. "This is the right story I'm thinking of, isn't it?"

The Queen was asking this of him? Uktenath looked up at the great gold - not as big as the greatest of golds yet, perhaps, but certainly bigger and greater than he - and considered. I will never be like the other bronzes, he decided after a slow moment, because I need to be greater, for Mine. But what is the right way to do that, then? He might have seemed a bit pitiful then, earnest as he was. Because he did not think that he could be foolish, but other things... was a bronze not supposed to be mighty and fierce? If a bronze was not focused on improving himself, how would he ever win the Flights that he would need to win, to make His great?

He was confused, but anxious. Uktenath was very certain, he did not want to make Yansanth sad! And she was so great and big, she must also be wise - she must have some answer for him!

O'asis hadn't really been expecting it to be the right one - really, shards, how many stories out there had two people doing stuff? Wasn't that the basic synopsis for every love tale ever told? - but he was momentarily flabbergasted to find that his ploy to bring the story out of Annelie had failed. Shards, his devious manipulations usually worked....

Ah, but he was also good at making the best of an unexpected situation. And here Annelie was, asking about his story now! He'd have to see if he could trick her tale out of her later - but, unsurprisingly, O'asis had no difficulties with blathering on himself.

"Oh, it's good, but more than a touch sad. Because of course, the Harper has a need to leave the Hall one day, promising to be back by the end of the sevenday. And she waits for him and waits, missing the sweet music from his window, not knowing what to do with herself now that she doesn't have his noontime performance to get her through the day. So she makes a vow that she will make her love known when he comes back, and never let him travel off again without her at his side - but does he return on his promised day? No. He must have been delayed, she thinks, nervous, and tries to will herself to wait - but then come warnings of Threadfall soon, and all that she can think of is her Harper love out there, trying to return home - maybe hurt, maybe lost, maybe hungry and lonely - and of course, completely unaware of the danger about to come from overhead! And so she has to strike out to find him, wearing her warmest shawl, ignoring the warnings that Thread will fall within a day...."


Uktenath thought over Yansanth's words carefully. He thought that he was already very good, then, by her account. He cared for those lesser than him! He certainly was not a wherry!

But Hanumanth... he had not met this bronze. But this was the sort of bronze that Yansanth thought was good, and Uktenath wanted badly to be a good bronze. Not just good - the best, the greatest, for His! And if Hanumanth was everything that the Queen said he was, then....

I should meet with Hanumanth, then, Uktenath decided, trying to suppress a jealous rise of pride. He didn't think he should have to ask anyone for help, but he wouldn't - he'd just engage the older bronze, talk with him, see what he knew. It wasn't the same thing that way.

Well, that was almost as good as guessing the story right off!... except that Annelie seemed sour. Perhaps he would have been better to just keep his mouth shut....

"Ah, well, there's a reason for that, you know," O'asis invented hastily, trying to think fast in order to defuse the goldrider's apparent grouchiness. He wandered a few steps as he spoke, expressing with his hands, moving about as he tried to find some way to figuratively maneuver out of the uncomfortable position he'd put himself in. "All stories have to come from someplace within a person, right? It's what makes folk enjoy them so much. Because what you've got and what I've got is the same, and what these stories do is bring it out - so of course they're going to sound the same!"

Here the Weyrling paused, glancing at Annelie again. Was she buying a word of it?


This was another tidbit that Uktenath took carefully. Advice and help... that sounded very much like something His would say. His was always trying to get him to warm up to people. And he just... didn't understand. With time, he was told, he would. But it irked him that everyone else seemed to understand, and he didn't....

I will keep that close in mind, he promised the Queen. Maybe if Uktenath got this advice and help that she wanted him to try and seek out, it would help his understanding? Perhaps....