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The morning could not have started stranger if a Harper had written it. It was only three days after Khunoth's advent in his life, but Gh'lan hadn't quite accustomed himself to the differences yet.


And there were MANY differences.


He'd mistakenly thought that caring for Khunoth wouldn't have differed too much from caring for Tada after she had hatched. Dragons appeared (by all accounts at the time) to be larger versions of firelizards, so he hadn't anticipated any real problems...

...Until Khunoth caught wind of his naive estimation, and roused the ENTIRE barracks one morning in protest. That had not gone over well, and between apologizing to the other male weyrlings and receiving the stand-in weyrlingmaster's lecture, he also had to console Khunoth. The latter hadn't been too hard, Gh'lan was not one of those lads so attached to his ego that he couldn't ditch it when need be, but enduring the lecture had been a little much. Khunoth tested his temper constantly, and given that mornings had never been the best times, Gh'lan found being apologetic, reprimanded, and apologetic over and over again a little trying. To add insult to injury, his dragon would then lecture him about what was and was not appropriate cuts of meat, often trying to bully his rider into nabbing other dragon's portions if he thought he deserved what they had.

This morning wasn't likely to be any different, but he had learned to anticipate Khunoth and rise early enough to start the meat selection process.

So here he was, knife in hand and a large bucket at his feet as he waited patiently for the kitchen workers to bring out the butchered herdbeasts. Thus far there didn't appear to be anyone else out and about this early in the Bowl, but as with anything... that was subject to change.

Khunoth's whirling eyes had fastened immediately on the kitchen workers as they hung up the freshly butchered beasts. Gh'lan suspected he was making his selection, so he left the dragon to his own devices long enough to answer the friendly greeting. Khunoth didn't have the teeth yet to rend at the butchered animals, so he'd just select one and call his rider...

...as always.


"And a good morning to you! " Gh'lan returned to the approaching young man. At first, he wasn't sure how to respond to the 'how was the Hatching' question... it should be obvious right?

"The Hatching was amazing, were you unable to attend?" Gh'lan asked, sheathing the knife at his belt as he offered his hand to the stranger. "I'm Gh'lan by the way, and that is Khunoth, though I wouldn't call him pretty in a mood like that." He added, smiling despite the small twitch of irritation. Damn, Khunoth's penchant for formality was getting to him.

Returning Kadri's handshake firmly, Gh'lan grinned at the Harper with a small hint of exasperation. "Oh yes, ever since we learned how to do this, Khunoth insists on being the first to rise and get the prime cut." The young brownrider said, rolling his eyes heavenward. "But it is nice to meet a friendly face out here, and I hope your brother feels better soon Kadri." He added, almsot as an after thought.

At that point, Khunoth rumbled from somewhere between the hanging beasts, and Gh'lan knew he'd chosen a likely suspect. Sighing, he glanced over at Kadri when the lad leaned close to ask the question. It was such a blatant Harper trick, he had to smile, of course he'd want to know about that! "Khunoth found a good one, but if you want, just follow me and we can talk more while I cut." He started, turning back towards the herdbeast carcasses. "Explanations like that take time after all."

Having selected his wherry, a large hen, Khunoth waited somewhat impatiently for his rider to arrive. The brown did not have a great deal of patience when it came to his rider's socializing, and to Khunoth, any attention that was not directed at him was considered socializing. Releasing a low rumble, he reared back to rest on his haunches, eyeing both his rider and the other human with rapidly whirling eyes. I am hungry. The brown informed Gh'lan, again... earning him a quick glance that he wasn't sure he understood from his rider. What is it-?

Before the young dragon could complete the thought sentence, the air around him exploded with firelizard bodies.. a dark green and a lighter hued blue. They were nice enough, but bugling in surprise at their sudden unexpected appearance, Khunoth nearly fell backwards on his head, if it hadn't been for Gh'lan's own green firelizard Tada, who swooped at him from behind, scolding raucously at him and the other two lizards before he totally lost his balance. Huffing, the brown righted himself and stared at the three flying lizards with indignation, while his rider laughed.

Between laughing at the antics of their winged companions, Gh'lan grinned back at Kadri and nodded once, "I'd love help... especially now since I'm sure he'll be extra picky." He added with a conspiratorial wink. He wasn't above teasing his dragon, especially at this hour when he would rather still be in bed with the rest of the weyrlings. "What hold we're you from? " He asked to keep the conversation going, picking up a large knife and heading towards the hen.

Gh'lan noted the young harper's affection for his companions, and allowed a soft smile of his own to curve his features when he glanced at his own green... despite said firelizard's current position on Khunoth's head crowing at the brown. "Her name is Tada, don't mind her too much though, she's awfully protective of Khunoth." He said, though his tone held a barely discernible twinge of annoyance. Sometimes, he definitely felt ganged up on when the two of them went at him in the early mornings.

"I'm from Ista originally, though I trained at the Telgar SmithHall for a little while before being apprenticed with Starsmith Enilion." He said, swinging the headless wherry carcass towards them both and out of the way of Khunoth's slobbering jaws. Thankfully, all of the meat was hung out on meathooks by the kitchen staff, so he did not have to cut into it lying flat. The contrivance was a genius contraption designed by someone in the Weyr's past that consisted of a long 'U' of steel tracks that the meat hooks hung from and could be slid along to make room for additional carcasses. A total of 20 or so could be accommodated here, but like everything else in Ista Weyr, things got cramped early, so Gh'lan was happy to have gotten here first.

"I only know a few folks myself, but I'd be happy to introduce you to those I do know Kadri." Gh'lan added brightly, the more social aspect of his personality glimmering faintly from beneath his early morning exhaustion.