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 Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 12:38 pm
After a couple days, Veyes finally opened his eyes very slowly. He didn't remember too much of the last hatching right away except that he had been in hideous shape. He didn't even remember how he got here, but he guessed that Ren had a hand in it. At least, that much he remembered but he'd rather just have just forgotten that hatching happened at all. He didn't impress again...meh. Bad luck seemed to have cursed him with disasters completely out of his control. Well at least, Con was far beyond that point...well on his way to dragon riding now. But at the moment, Veyes didn't really care about riding a dragon in this world; he was just too sick.
Waking up didn't feel remotely promising, he still felt like s**t between the aching, fevers, coughing, etc...etc... Everything the flu could be with an extra one two punch. But as soon as his eyes focused, he realized that a healer was close by wanting to make him eat and drink something. Really, he didn't even want that. Overall, he felt way too pathetic in the real world. He'd rather be dreaming again than wasting time here. Although, he probably should have eaten since he hadn't in a while, however, sleep sounded far more soothing.
So it wasn't too hard to ignore her and wander away again, flying farther and higher into the sunny day on a dragon of his choosing while drifting off to sleep. That was where his optimism flourished. It probably was the best sleep he had in awhile - like a sweet fluffy cloud; no crowded dorm...no snoring...no flit nipping on his toes, no aggravating candidate master, and no chores - Privacy; at least to a degree that he hadn't had in such a long time. Although, he probably would have preferred the chores to being this miserable. Even so, he'd find comfort in the quiet that the infirmary offered.
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Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 11:49 am
He had a break between drills and his watch period. L'thor had used a very small amount of said break to wash and change, and was now heading down to the infirmary to check up on Veyes. The healers didn't seem too worried by the condition of any of those struck by the mysterious illness, and he was doing his best not to worry either. It was difficult, though, he was given to worrying about his friends over almost nothing, so a strange illness certainly had him on edge. Nodding to a healer, who knew where he was headed by now, he stepped through the curtain that separated Veyes' bed from the rest of the infirmary.
Once inside the private space, L'thor found himself grinning. "Good morning Veyes," he said as he moved over to a chair by the bed and sat down. "You look like s**t, can I take it that you feel like it too?" It was good to see him aware again, made it a little easier not to worry... Well, no, made him able to worry a little less. He wouldn't stop being concerned for his young friend until he'd been out of the infirmary and back at his normal routine for a few days.
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Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 12:02 pm
Veyes' eyes flicked open against the pillow as he heard the familiar voice. "It's morning?" he said as he rolled over and looked up at L'thor. His face still had a pale look to it but less so than the first awful day. "Yeah...I feel like a dragon ran over me then backed up once or twice." A cough started to wrack his body and he immediately covered his face with the sheet until the coughing stopped.
"You look pretty good though. Guess this sickness hasn't gotten you. I'm glad to see that." he sighed a little as he tried to sit up and lean against the pillows. "I'm not sure how long I've been here. Been sleeping most of the time." He turned his head and glanced over at a small table close by to take a hold of a cup with water in it.
"And he hasn't eaten anything either..." said the healer that poked her head head in to check on the boy. "Stubborn as a herdbeast." She glanced over at L'thor and then set the small tray off food on the table, felt Veyes forehead, then slipped back out not wanting to interrupt their conversation too much.
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Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 11:54 am
L'thor gave a lopsided grin. "It's afternoon, actually, but I generally call whatever time I wake up 'morning' even if it's getting dark! You had better eat," he added with a grin, "you'll get better sooner, and be able to go back to lessons!" He hoped so anyway, nobody had yet said what was really going on. Veyes might get worse before he got better, or not get better at all.
"Still, you've not missed too much," he went on, shaking his head with a slight frown. "All's been in uproar, people getting ill left right and center, I don't think there've been more than two candidate lessons over the last few days, if even that! Me, I'm tough as old boots, but a lot of candidates, lower caverns staff, and other riders too have been collapsing. I don't think any of the new weyrlings have got ill though, the only one up here is the girl who got savaged on the sands." This place was too crowded; they needed to move some of the population out. Halve the number of people, and Ista would be comfortable... Though half the number of mature riders would be a bit thin on the ground. Better than all of them dying of some sickness caused and spread by the tightly packed Weyr though.
"Raith says hello by the way," L'thor added, "and she hopes that you will get well again soon. I'd have brought the flitts down to say hello as well, but excitable little things flying around are never welcome here, let alone when they're so busy."
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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 5:17 pm
Veyes frowned a little as he dragged himself up to a seated position wishing he could see outside. "Afternoon. Ugh...how long have I slept?? I'm really not that hungry..." But the growl in his belly agreed with L'thor's idea and Veyes grumbled realizing that he best oblige both knowing L'thor probably wouldn't let him skip even if he really just didn't feel like bothering.
His hand reached over to the side table to pull in the tray; looking down he realized that it was rather bland food. There was nothing that could remotely upset a stomach and maybe that was a good thing because even though he had not barfed, with a flu anything was possible. His fingers curled around the spoon as he lifted the light broth to his lips and sucked it in very slowly. "The only thing I have missed is chores." he said as he wiped his lip with the napkin waiting for the first bite to settle. "Glad you haven't become sick, L'thor. I'd feel bad. I don't want to be the one to give it to you."
He paused for a moment to take another slow taste then stopped as he coughed up ick. "Ugh...this stuff is causing the goo in my throat to loosen." It was an uncomforatable feeling of mucus sliding down and coughing up in the steam of the broth swallowed. "I want to be well...I'd rather be doing lessons with you than...like this." Trying again he sipped down another bite but ended up just as cough ridden as before.
"I wish I would have known I was sick...but I didn't even feel it come on until after I was on the sands. Didn't think I was going to impress after all that. I don't even remember who did...I think Conomor did but I don't remember much after that." He shook his head feeling a bit down by his ill luck. Every hatching had something bad attached to it so far. And this time he didn't even find a chance to pick up a shell shard for his "collection of hatchings". "I suppose Con is very happy." Somehow that made his heart just a bit more empty but those were things he really couldn't express.
Actually, most of the time he felt really alone even in the large Weyr. If he were doing something productive maybe it wouldn't be so bad but as a candidate, he always felt rather...out of place and doing fill in time chores. He knew his dreams weren't going to be easy to obtain in the real world but even his ideas of obstacles never amounted to what he had received so far. Still, this was more adventure than what he had at home...He didn't really want to go back to the farm. In time, something good had to come of all this.
His tired eyes lifted up a bit as L'thor mentioned Raith and the flits. "Tell her hello back. Maybe when I am better maybe we can do something fun...flying, bathing or something like that." Although at the moment, none of that sounded really appealing because his head was stuffed and getting out of bed seemed like a big feat. If he were well, he might have thought otherwise. "Awh...I like your flits. But yeah. I suppose they can't come here. But..the bed is much better here than in my alcove. I almost wish this could be my room. No one snores here. " he smiled a little and then thought about L'thor...wondering if he slept....bare or in clothes. His cheeks flushed just a little. What bad timing for a thought like that!
"So did someone good get the gold?" he said with a pause realizing that he missed who got her entirely.
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Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 4:04 am
L'thor smiled and gave a slight shrug. "Honestly, I don't know the girl but I hear she's good fun. The one they call 'the nose'? Lovely little queen too, shyer than you might expect, and she bowed to a green that ran into her by mistake, let her choose Hers first. That last green went with Merya, you might well not know her, she only arrived at the last hatching; Raith spotted her at the feast afterward. She's kept to herself mostly, not used to all the work candidates have to do, but at least she rose to the challenge." He was glad that one of the four candidates he had found by mistake was now bonded. He hoped desperately that the others would find their lifemates soon too.
"Conomor did Impress, yes, that first bronze chose him... Naedreth I think?" Raith affirmed this, and L'thor nodded. "Yes, Naedreth. Proud little thing already I gather, but very friendly and polite to all humans and dragons, and flitts for that matter. A refreshing change, a bronze who doesn't look down on greens." Still didn't mean he was prepared to be friends just like that... Though Raith had told him after they'd get Veyes to the infirmary that the young bronze and his rider had helped draw some of the press of people out of his path at the entrance to the sands. He supposed he owed both the benefit of the doubt for that, but turns of prejudice would be difficult to overturn. Given Veyes was no longer friends with Conomor, or whatever his new name was, perhaps he should just thank them sometime and leave it at that.
"Oh!" L'thor perked up suddenly and gave Veyes a grin. "There's something to do once you get out of here, come and meet my new little flittering horror. It's another brown, hatched yesterday and currently about as long as my hand." Two blues and two browns, what a crazy flitt man he was! No more, not even in the hopes of a lovely green to add to the collection; Raith was enough green for him any day.
"I should think so too!" commented his lifemate with an audible grin.
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Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 9:16 am
Veyes knew who the girl was right away. "Oh, that girl. What a gossip." He shook his head not sure how he felt about that pairing but in all actuality it didn't matter what he thought; the dragon had chosen and life in the Weyr moved on. "Ah, I'm glad one of the people you brought here impressed." He didn't recognize the name and he wondered how many times she had been on the hatching grounds but he didn't ask for fear L'thor would say it was her first.
"Ah...then Conomor got a good one...I guess. Figures he'd get a bronze." he said with a cough that hide the fact that he wished he'd have been so lucky. He wondered how that would change Con's outlook in life. Would he become the grouchy bronze rider like most he'd met...or something better. He might have pondered out that dream further but instead he let it drift off. No point to consider something that eventually will reveal itself in a matter of time. He needed to stop thinking about that former friendship. It was over. Done...something he should shovel behind him - Move on.
But then L'thor mentioned the little flit and his eyes became lit with curiosity, "So you're a daddy yet again. Well, I guess that I will have to come up and see your newest kid when I'm feeling human again. A brown? Well, I'm sure that he will fit right in your busy family."
Veyes sneezed turning his head from L'thor and then coughed a fit into his rag. He was happy for L'thor. The man seemed perfectly content with life and had quite a little family going there. If only he could have said the same thing for himself. He dreamt of being a happy little hatched flit in L'thor's hand. He smiled a bit as his coughs subsided. "He sounds really small...what's the name of your new brown? Is Raith taking it well having all these men living in the Weyr with you?"
He had to laugh and cover his mouth as he did choking on the mucus; "I bet she thinks she has her own harem."
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Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 7:22 am
L'thor winced at Veyes' coughing, and offered him a sympathetic smile. "I truly hate being ill; coughing is the worst. 'Kain makes a nice honey drink that helps with the sore throat, I'll get him to make some up later if you like." That honey drink was the start and finish of his friend's culinary skill, but it had been so welcome so many times over the turns that he forgave the other man for being unable to so much as make klah.
"I'm not sure what I expected Conomor/whoever he is now to get," he went on with a shake of his head, "never talked to him that much. Hopefully he and that dragon won't turn out like most do, but frankly so far as I can tell the odds are against them. Something about a shiny hide sends so many people's heads up their own arses; it's quite sad really." Still, Veyes probably didn't want to hear any more about people who'd found their dragons this time around. He certainly hadn't cared to hear about all of the happy couples when he'd stood for and failed to Impress at his first hatching.
"I've called him Dancer," L'thor went on, grinning as they moved to a happier topic. "After I fed him his first piece of meat, he stood up on his back legs and tried to dance to ask for more. He fell over of course, but I have a feeling it's something he'll keep doing, and eventually become proficient at. Raith is taking to the expanded flitt fair very well," L'thor gave a snort of amusement and shook his head slightly. "They all adore her, and you know how she loves being adored."
"Well, it isn't as though I don't deserve it!" the green in question chuckled. "I am ever so pretty, and I love to be around anyone who is happy to fuel my vanity!"
L'thor snorted again and turned to Veyes. "She says she deserves all the attention and more, and that she likes people to feed her vanity. As if we didn't know that already!"
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Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 10:07 am
Veyes perked up for a brief moment with the idea of a honey drink as his nose dripped into a rag that he had for all the sneezing he was doing. "Oh that sounds good..." He said sounding a bit stuffed up as if all the snot had shifted. "ARGH..I hate being sick! Shards!", he coughed in frustration.
It wasn't long before he was back to looking pretty miserable and wiped out so he laid back down and pulled the covers up close. "Yeah, you might be right about Con. He's pretty quick to judge a person...there's no shade of gray with him. I'll never be more than some thread born shard in his eyes from making one mistake."
He stared up at the ceiling for a moment pondering that thought. "Not sure if it's the shiny hide...I think that potential is already there. A bronze dragon is a taste of power and what you could do for the Weyr...being....umm...Weyrleader....Flying a gold - Taking charge of all this mess here and working with it. Most, of these candidates I've met wouldn't know what to do with something like that. I'd even have a hard time sorting out something like that. If Con had a good mentor, maybe he'd rise above. I'm lucky to have you, L'thor. I'd probably have made much bigger mistakes without you." He smiled softly at the man and wiped his red nose a couple of times.
Then slowly continued, "Sometimes I wonder if...well...if I'm going to be suitable for a dragon. Maybe I'm just growing up a bit...but I used to think that a dragon would make me feel whole. But now I think, I'm already whole. I just need to do something with my life. I still want to explore the world and make new discoveries but I also see a lot of things that need to change with the Weyr and even the Holds. I'd like to change things...Gah...Why is it when I think about Con I go off into these deep tangents?"
He sighed as he tried to push the reflective thoughts aside and then laughed in a little bit of coughing, "Dancer? Oh that sounds adorable. I can't wait to see the little guy do that trick." His eyes blinked a few times as he started to feel a bit more sleepy. "When I'm well I will give her plenty of attention. She's still my #1 Dragon!" Grinning as he said the words, he seemed almost like his old self again even if it weren't quite the case.
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Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 10:39 am
No man was whole without his dragon. That was why he pitied holders, crafters, traders, and especially those who lived within Weyrs but had no dragon. He didn't say it aloud though, because there was no point. Until you had a dragon, you did not realise that you hadn't been whole before. It was best that way, to never know what you were missing. If people understood how unformed they were without a dragon in their mind, they would live their whole lives in misery.
"Rider or not, I'm sure you'll find something interesting to do with your life," L'thor said eventually with a faint smile. "For now though," he went on softly, "get some more sleep. The more rest you get the sooner you'll feel better... Oh, and next I come down I'll bring you some of that honey drink," he concluded with a smile and a nod. He was glad that his friendship was important to Veyes, very glad, and he fervently hoped that the things he had been able to teach the lad would come in useful one day. He hated the idea of his friend going all his life without knowing what it was to be a dragonman.
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