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 Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 7:15 am
L'thor grinned and nodded. "It's hilarious, and I'd welcome the company. Nothing quite as dull as watch duty." As Veyes hurried into the bathing room, L'thor padded out onto the ledge and sat down beside Raith. The sleek dragon rumbled deep in her chest, and moved her head so that her rider could rub her eye ridges whilst leaning back against her. River had vanished again, no doubt to steal something from someone, but Dusk came and curled up in his lap with a contented yawn.
The darkly coloured flitt was deep asleep when Veyes called out, so much so that when L'thor picked up up and put him down beside Raith he didn't so much as stir. Chuckling to himself, the rider headed back inside the weyr and tried to remember where he'd put the comb... Oh yes! "Ah, right; I put it away with my other wash things. There's a little alcove in the wall there, the things on the right are mine. Should be a bone comb there somewhere... Well, there are a few combs there actually, but there's one with very fine teeth that should do the job."
River chose that moment to reappear and drop a wooden disk into L'thor's hand. L'thor turned to look at his preening pet and sighed; he hoped River had found the 1⁄16 mark abandoned somewhere rather than stealing it from somebody... Well, unless it had previously belonged to somebody he didn't like very much. Grinning as a thought struck him, L'thor passed the mark back to River and suggested he give it to Veyes. The flitt crooned cheerfully, flew into the bathing room and dropped the mark beside Veyes' shoes.
"Looks like River's helping you start saving for your own little pest," L'thor commented as the excitable firelizard flew happy circuits of the bathing room.
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Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 7:51 am
Veyes poked around where L'thor suggested and eventually uncovered a bone tooth comb that appeared to be the right one. He grabbed up his wet clothes and brought them out so he could put them nearer to the hearth to dry quicker preferring the nice towel while the clothes started to dry a bit more. "I sort of washed what I was wearing too because they really needed it. Looks like when I leave here I will probably go to the laundry and wash everything else."
He sat down next to the heart not far from his drying clothes and started taking the comb through his long hair. "Oh..its so good to be clean." Tugging the comb along he starts to try to get out all the tangles. His hair is really long once its out of the braids probably just over his butt if he stood up straight and maybe it could use a bit of a trim; although it has a lot of wavy and probably would be the envy off most girls if they ever saw out of the braids.
Veyes grinned as he saw the flitt drop the mark by his shoes. "Thank you River. It's going to be awhile before I can afford one but that's a great start." He smiled up and over at L'thor while watching the flit make his circuits. "If I get a flitt, maybe it will be female and I can breed her. Seems like lots of people want them."
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Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:02 am
L'thor nodded his agreement to that. "Oh yes, they're very much in demand. If she's a green you might have hard work finding where she lays them, but some people manage to train the silly little things to take them to where the eggs are. It's easier with golds of course because they're brighter but given how rare they are, and the fact that you don't know what you'll get out of an egg until it actually hatches, chances are that you won't end up with one of those. If you got a bronze or a brown it might catch Conomor's young queen sometime though and the pair of you could sell on the clutch together."
People would pay more for an egg they knew had come from a gold, especially a bronze-gold couple. Most people would be happy with any colour flitt, but the far higher chance at getting a 'better' colour out of the shiny-hided firelizards persuaded people to dig into their purses a little deeper, especially for the bigger eggs in a clutch. Though there was no clear indication of a queen in flitts, the size rule still applied; a tiny egg was almost certainly a green or a blue, and a larger one was probably brown, bronze or gold.
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Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:51 am
He chuckled just a little at the thought then his brow furrowed a hair, "Umm...L'thor, do umm...well if you have a flitt and it rises after another...do you get the same affect as you would with a dragon?" It seemed to him that it might be troublesome to have too many flitts if that were the case and he really didn't want to be in that situation.
"You know, the touching seemed really weird. I wasn't sure exactly what it's purpose was except maybe to give the young ones in an egg an impression of me. But with so many candidates, I don't know how a small dragon could pick someone. I did my best...but I don't feel really confident about it all. But...you did say that well...it might take several tries before the right one found me."
He sets down the comb for a moment and tries to let his hair dry closer to the hearth. "There were a bunch of pretty eggs at the touching; I wondered what they felt inside the eggs with so many people hovering around them. I don't think I would have liked all those people staring at me." Just that thought sent a mild shiver down his spine as his imagination got the better of him again and soon he was seeing from the inside of the shell in his own mind hearing voices he couldn't see and feeling rather uncomfortable. With that he stared into the fire just for a bit lost in that dream world.
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Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 9:13 am
L'thor carried a second chair over to the fire and sat down, offering Veyes a smile. "Yes, it can take a while. I was lucky; I Impressed in the second hatching I attended but it took V'kain - my friend who lives here with me - took him... oh, five turns I think? Let's see. He was searched at twelve, and he Impressed at seventeen, so yes; five turns. Hopefully it won't be that long for you; clutches are bigger and more frequent now than they were back then so there's a good chance it won't be... Really the idea of the touching is to give the dragons a first impression of you, yes, and its also to get all the candidates used to the idea of being on the sands, being around the eggs, respectful to the queen and such. Its supposed to make everyone less nervous and unsure on the day of the hatching; cut down on injuries or somesuch."
Getting to his feet again, L'thor moved over to an alcove set into the wall and took a pot out of it, and then a large jug. "Klah?" he offered as he walked back over to the fire and hung a pot over it, which he then filled with water from the jug. "I've got honey for sweetening, and I can send River off to get a bit of milk if you like it white... Oh, yes, flitts," he smiled as he recalled the question and stirred the fire with a poker to wake the flames a little more. "It's not the same thing at all... There's a... feeling but it's not something you have to act on, let alone with the owner of the other flitt. It is there, though, which is why they're not suitable pets for children."
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Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 10:03 am
Veyes nods slowly...all he really needed was to get his mind in the right space. He had plenty of time before he was too old so why did he worry all of a sudden. Maybe it was the fear of being rejected mixed with the desire to succeed. Taking a deep breath he glanced over at L'thor, "That's a while but I am glad your friend got lucky with his."
"Oh yes, please." he responded. "Klah would be wonderful." It was just a slight bit chilly in the just the towel but he'd make due to have those clothes dry before getting into them again. The fire had already started warming him up a bit. "Honey?? OH yes that would be great!! And milk too?" That seemed to perk him up because sweetened Klah was more of a treat at home.
"Thank goodness, I don't think I'd want a flitt if it was just like being with a dragon in regards to that problem." he smiled a little and wondered how the heck anyone could handle something like that too often. "I guess Hally will have to wait a few years before he can have one." That would really disappoint his little brother but he could understand why. "You know...it's really peaceful up here in your weyr, L'thor...Almost like a sanctuary."
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Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 11:22 am
L'thor smiled and went back over to the alcove in order to retrieve a tiny pottery jug painted an attractive shade of sky blue. As an afterthought, he took out a pair of mugs painted with flitts at play. "I'm glad you like it here," he said, handing the jug to River and giving him a mental nudge in the direction of the kitchens; everyone who worked in there knew that the little blue flitt with the little blue jug wanted some milk please. "I'm usually one for being in the thick of things, but it's good to have a place to retreat to when I do want a bit of peace," L'thor went on, moving over to his bed and taking one of the many sumptuous furs off it. "Here," he walked back over to Veyes and handed him the fur before putting the mugs down on the floor, "put this around you; I'll take your clothes out onto the ledge and drape them on Raith to dry."
"Oh thanks," the green dragon grumbled as her rider spread the soggy clothes over her flank. "Mmm, actually that's nice and cool," she decided after a moment with a happy rumble.
"Well I'm glad you approve," L'thor said aloud with a grin, rubbing her eyeridges briefly. "Do grab them if they try to blow away, humm? Gently mind you; don't go making any holes." At the green's rumble of agreement, he turned and went back inside. Stretching contentedly, L'thor padded back over to the fire, and was just in time to meet River. The flitt had been given an offcut piece of meat, and was very keen to hand over the jug so that he could go and share his prize with his brother. Sitting back down, L'thor placed the milk with the cups and grinned at Veyes; "Dragons; who knew they made good washing lines?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 12:23 pm
Veyes took the fur and tugged it around his shoulders taking in the deep scent and smiling with a blush on his cheek. It smelled like L'thor so he snuggled into it and felt quite a bit warmer. "Thanks..umm.. you think they'll dry quicker over there??"
He watched as L'thor draped them on Raith and laughed when she seemed to be content with them all over her flank. "I guess she doesn't mind too much!" He turned and looked back towards the flame as he curled up in the blanket. It was almost to easy to consider falling asleep like that and he tried to think of ways to stay awake; almost thankful that the Klah was ready when it was.
Taking the Klah from L'thor's hand, he smiled and took a slow sip. "Sure does seem that way. Looks like Raith kind of enjoys it. But are you sure that they won't blow away?" He took another sip of his drink and closed his eyes for a moment; everything was so comfortable here. He could have enjoyed this for hours...if he had that time. "The Klah is a lot better than the stuff from earlier today. I don't think I am ever going to taste test other candidates' experiments ever again."
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Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 12:30 pm
L'thor nodded and sipped at his own klah with a happy sigh. Nothing quite like freshly made klah in good company. Well, good wine was nice as well but he was hardly going to offer a semi-nude youth wine in his weyr. He had a feeling that he would be extremely annoyed by the rumors that such an act would start up, and he didn't want Veyes getting the wrong impression either come to that. He had to wonder what the young man thought of him, being so friendly, offering him use of his bathroom, draping him in his sleeping furs, whisking his clothes away out of reach... Still, he didn't seem to think anything amiss, so that was alright.
"Yes, they'll be fine," he clarified, "it's a calm enough day, and should a sudden breeze whisk them away Raith can grab them before they reach the ground. Her warmth and the sun ought to dry them out fairly quickly too... Oh, experimental klah? I think I heard about that but didn't get around to going. That bad, was it?" he grimaced, wondering just how badly one could mess up klah.
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Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 12:44 pm
Veyes made a face, "If you like fish or mud you might like it. I could barely stomach a small taste before making a face. I don't know why anyone would put together a Klah like that. And stranger still some folks voted for it. I'm not sure if it was out of pity or what. But then again there were a lot of people hanging around. I wonder...mm..maybe someone tainted the drink." That thought could have fit with the personalities and whiny kids he had seen hanging around some of them might have had it in for one another.
No he hadn't particular put together all the things that he might off about L'thor's actions. His innocence to the relationship game didn't fill in many of the details that some might have otherwise noticed. If he had he might have blushed a bit more and wondered what was next. But for now he was happy to sit with his Klah and have L'thor's company all his own for a moment.
"Oh...I was wondering...would it be possible to come up here at some point and learn how to repair riding straps? I was told that I'd have to learn how to make them and repair them if I impress so I was kind of wanting to be ahead of the game." There were probably many other questions he could ask but that seemed to be a good starting place. Plus, it distracted him from other thoughts that roamed his mind; ones that would continue to cause a blush upon his cheek.
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Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 12:55 pm
L'thor wrinkled his nose in disgust at the description. "Fish and mud? Egh! How horrible! Did the people that voted it actually have tastebuds do you think?" Fish was all very well in its place, but its place was not in his klah. As for mud, well, that was never on the menu if he had anything to do with it. "You're quite welcome to come and learn how to do it," L'thor went on, pushing the thought of yucky klah out of his mind. "We're doing some fairly intense drills tomorrow, so I'll be doing some maintenance on my riding straps tomorrow evening. I'll leave it until you get done with chores for the day, then you can come up and I'll show you the basics... Humm, I'll see if I can't get hold of some scraps of leather for you to practice the stitching on too."
It was pleasing that Veyes was so keen to learn; he did want the youth to do well. He wanted him to be... to be dedicated, enthusiastic, to always strive his best. Basically he wanted Veyes to justify the faith he had in him. He was aware that his belief in the long-haired young man, and he desire for him to do well, had probably sprung up out of the Incident with the boy's father but that didn't mean it was unjustified. So far Veyes had shown a great deal of diligence with his chores, and interest in learning all he could about dragons. Yes, he'd do well if he got a dragon. Haha, such a different opinion to his very first one of the youth. He'd been convinced that Veyes would be the worst rider in history, that he'd manage to lose his dragon between in record time! What a sharding awful day that had been, L'thor pondered with a wry smile.
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Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 1:27 pm
"Oh..that would be wonderful!" he almost jumped out of the fur with vivid excitement then scrambled to tug it back to cover himself again. "I want to get ahead with my studies as much as I can. It would be really nice to not have so much to learn once the hatchling arrives. I am sure that there will still be a lot to learn but if I can get the basics out of the way then it should be easier right?"
His mind was filled with thoughts of learning how to stitch straps and hoped that maybe his times at home making the ones he did on his own wasn't totally in vain but he would find out more tomorrow when he saw it done by someone more experienced. "I'll definitely be here!...unless for some reason the hatching starts but then again you know where I'd be at that point. " He continued to smile broadly unable to contain himself. Every day was a small step that seemed to work towards a bigger goal. He just hoped that the direction he was going would pay off one day.
"What other things do you need to learn as a dragon rider? Are there other things I can focus on as I'm doing chores?? I tend to let my mind wander when I am doing the same job over and over..."
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Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 1:45 pm
L'thor made a thoughtful noise at the back of his throat as he sipped at his klah again. "Let's see... Well, you know butchery, that'll set you in good sted at first... Making harnesses, washing and oiling... Those are the practical skills you'll need at first. Other things you need to know: dragon anatomy, behavior, you'll start learning the theory of fighting formations and doing on ground drills quite early as well. You'll learn firestone protocol as well, and a lot of training really goes into taking orders very swiftly and following them to the letter. It's not doing quite as you were supposed to be that causes accidents, so even if you make a mistake that has no consequences expect a good dressing down."
Veyes could be a bit of a dreamer, but he was sure the lad could keep dead on task when called for; he shouldn't have too much of an issue with snapping to the commands of a wingleader or second. He just hoped that all the idiots around him could do the same. It was far from uncommon for a weyrling class to lose a member or two before they graduated, and young riders in adult wings were hurt or killed fairly often too. Worst of it was, the idiots that caused the accidents often weren't the only casualties.
"I can talk you though some basic bits of theory beyond what you're doing in candidate lessons if you want," L'thor went on with a nod. "Go into a bit more detail than they'll be giving you at this stage, go over some things that perhaps they haven't go onto telling you at all yet. If I remember right, a lot of candidate lessons were etiquette inn the Weyr in general, and then for the touchings and hatchings. Bits of dragon anatomy and behavior, bits of history but mostly glossed over at that stage." Mostly because not everyone in the room would go on to become rider. Why teach any more than necessary to people who might never need the knowledge? Veyes would need it though, he was sure, and so he'd give him a good start over his classmates.
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Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 2:20 pm
Veyes scooted across the floor to sit a bit closer; "When can I start!?" Sounds like there is quite a bit more. Dragon anatomy? Mmm..sounds like I am going to be reciting a lot to learn it. Ooh..and flight formations??" Now he was very excited. These were the things he'd hoped to learn. Of course, he didn't impress a dragon this was going to seem useless but...maybe if he were lucky he could try to get into the healing craft and become a dragon healer. Then all of this...might still be useful? Why did that part always nag at him. Surely he had as good of chance as any of the other candidates. All it took was for one dragon to find him to be the right match.
"I'd really like that L'thor." he said as he took another taste of the Klah having discovered it to settle nice and warm in his stomach. Today had going from a down right awful day to very good one that had a lot of promise for the future. "Yes, they seem to teach much about etiquette but I don't know how many of the candidates pay attention. Nothing seems to be in depth...you're right. I just don't know why a dragon would pick a few of these people that I have met but I guess that there has to be something to it all even if I don't understand it. How do you ever mold any of them into Riders? Do they change? What were you like when you were...around my age??"
That last question made him curious....what was L'thor like as a boy? Could he have been as spoiled or as lazy as a few he had met? Or was he kind of like himself? However, maybe no one was as goal oriented on their dreams as he was lately...or maybe...well maybe Conomor was.
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Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 2:33 pm
What had he been like? It was a bit hard to remember really; it felt like a different lifetime. "I was..." he frowned thoughtfully, wondering how to phrase it. "I was myself, only not quite as much as I am today... I was not quite so brash, so self-assured and, yes, vain. I was just as quick tongued, and more quick-tempered, Raith has mellowed me a little there. Only a little though," he grinned, "I still insult the people I think need insulting and get myself punishment duties a lot more often than most. I remember thinking most of the people around me back when I was a candidate were soft lazy bastards. It seemed as though there were only a few of us really applying ourselves to our duties, and yet everyone went on an on about how important becoming a rider was to them."
Feeling a bit out of place up on his chair, L'thor slid down onto the floor and swirled his klah thoughtfully. So long ago now, and yet he still felt young. Still was young, well fairly young anyway. He and Raith still had a lot of life ahead of them provided nothing unexpected happened to either of them, and yet here he was dispensing wisdom. Ah well, he was quite enjoying this actually; it didn't matter if he felt a bit out of place as an instructor. "The dragons didn't seem to pick based on who the hard workers were though," he said with a frown and a shake of his head, "I was very annoyed when I saw a few complete louts chosen when I wasn't. I suppose their dragons saw some good qualities in them though... or at least some qualities that they liked. You get lazy dragons as much as you get lazy candidates, and some of them do like to go for a kindred spirit in that respect. I can start teaching you things any time you like really," he went on with a slight shrug, "whenever both of us have some free time really."
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