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 Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 5:41 pm
Arolon had been working his rear off the past sevenday since Theron had given him his mission. He was ready to commit the deed but was waiting for night fall. Emotions were high for him right now and he couldn't sit still for very long. He was tired of life as a shunned Ista transfer. He wanted acceptance, from someone, anyone!
He had gone over the plan again and again, had trained, prepared for before and after, thought about every 'what if' that came to mind. To calm down he was being stupid. He had a thin flat piece of wood he was laying on and riding/sliding down a tall sand dune. His body was sweaty and covered in sand but he was having fun.
His blue flitt Lokkes was nearby, poking his head into Arolon's packed lunch. Probably sniffing for something tasty. He had hatched on the first night Arolon had been to Igen and though young he learned quickly when bribed, especially when the bribery was food.
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Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2009 9:34 am
“...Mine. There is a boy skidding down a dune. Do we know him?”
“Eh?” R’than raised his head from the riding straps he had been greasing and got to his feet. Pausing to stretch, he crossed the weyr and came to a halt by his dragon’s side. “Where?” He couldn’t see anyone at all, let alone anyone skidding.
“Here,” Garith nudged his lifemate to share his eyes, “you see?”
R’than nodded; he saw, thanks to his dragon’s sharp vision. The youth wasn’t all that far from the Weyr, but he was far enough that the rider’s human, and it had to be said less than perfect, eyes couldn’t pick him out. “Yes we know him,” he added after a moment, “that’s Arolon, the boy we brought here first. Do you remember?”
Garith rumbled softly in the back of his throat. “No, but I thought I recognized him... We should go and make sure he is well.”
With that R’than agreed wholeheartedly. Moving back inside the weyr, he collected the straps from the table, a large skin of water which he fastened to his belt, and a cloth wrapping for his head to keep the sun off. It was the work of a moment to get Garith into the straps, to mount, and for the brown to loft gently into the hot air. There was one thing to be said for Igen, it certainly was easy to take off. They were in the air barely longer than their conversation had taken from start to finish; Garith touched down at the base of the dune Arolon was currently skidding down, and R’than clambered down to the sand. Even though his boots he could feel the heat of it; not as hot as the sands of hatching grounds, but still noticeably warm.
“Arolon,” he called as the candidate skidded towards him, standing carefully to one said so as not to get in the way. “Garith spotted you out here, I thought you could probably do with a drink in this heat.” He did not ask the question ‘what are you doing?’; it was pretty obvious what the youth was up to, the more pertinent question was ‘why?’. He personally couldn’t see the appeal in such an activity but then he was old and, according to some, dull. Perhaps this was the new popular passtime for candidates or something.
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Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 4:47 am
Arolon was slightly embarassed to be caught doing something so foolish by the one dragonrider he knew here at Igen. He stood and tried to brush off all the sand clinging to him.
"Yes, thank you!" He walked up to them and gratefully took a hearty drink. Thirst quenched he smiled up at Garith. "Nice to see you both again."
Lokkes flew over onto Arolon's arm. The boy poured a little water into his hands which the flitt quickly drank up. "This is my new flitt, he hatched from an egg I brought over from Ista. His name is Lokkes." The blue fire lizard cooed and flew over to his larger dragon cousin, eyes curious and bright.
"I had a lunch but forgot to pack a skin of wat...Lokkes!" Only now did the boy realize his pack had been sifted through by his naughty little flitt. He walked over to his bag and looked at the remainders of the leftovers. He sighed, and looked back over at R'than.
"Anyway...I was just doing it to relax, been really stressful here lately." He looked like he wanted to talk about it but then his eyes turned sad. "Your not in a faction yet, are you? Am I allowed to talk to you?" He asked quietly. He didn't see a bandana but he thought he should ask just in case. He was a shunned afterall, until he got Iathe's bandana belt. The thought made him nervous all over again.
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Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 6:10 am
R'than smiled slightly and eased himself down to a seat in the sand. As Garith extended a wing to shade both Arolon and himself, the warmth of the sand became almost pleasant, and was certainly no longer unpleasant. "He's lovely," the grey-haired rider with with a nod to the blue flitt, "and you needn't worry, I'm not allied with anyone yet. I suppose I'll have to pick a bronzerider family to support soon, but not just yet. I hope to find one that won't mind me continuing to associate with everyone who came from Ista, I shall certainly do my best to find a tolerant lot... So you said life was stressful?" he went on, studying Arolon with mild concern in his hazel eyes. "Have you joined up with a faction yet?"
The lack of bandanna meant he probably hadn't, but it was possible that the boy was just dejected about the whole thing and had taken the thing off the moment he left the Weyr. How badly must the world have been thrown on its head for these children? He was having an awkward enough time of it, set in his ways as he was, but that was nothing compared to the youthful need to belong. Everybody needed to belong but that need, the need to be accepted, to have friends, was more intense when you were younger. Besides, he had Garith; even if he was an outsider to the Weyr at the moment he had one unshakable friend and supporter. The candidates had no such luxury... though perhaps having a chirping, thieving little flitt would improve matters somewhat; he had often heard their affection for their masters praised as a comfort in rough times.
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Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 4:37 am
Relief flooded through him. He sat beside R'than, grateful for a break from being ignored and shunned. The boy smiled up at Garith, silently thanking him for the shade. Lokkes settled himself on the boy's lap, curling up like he was about to take a nap.
Arolon nodded then shook his head no. "Those who don't wear a bandana are shunned and treated bad. I've tried joining a faction already. Nothing I said seemed good enough so to impress them I was given a hard task to do. They don't like us, they want us to fail I think.." He didn't say which faction and he didn't mention that the task could get him into serious trouble.
"I'd stick with the Ista transfers but we're all splitting apart." He'd finally learned that being weyrbred didn't matter at all, especially if it made people at Igen like they are now. Ethier do the task and join or fail and be shunned forever or worse kicked out. It was the one time his courage was failing him. His candidacy was at risk. He didn't want to be alone anymore though, he had to do this. If R'than ever found out what his task was he could imagine the rider would be very disappointed in him. He felt like defending his decision.
"I have to join! It's not just my social life, It's for safety too. If I impress a dragon I want mine to be safe from being shunned, or bullied, or ganged up on..... or harmed." He had no evidence that actual fighting broke out between the factions but with the rivalry he'd bet it happened from time to time. He knew colors lower than bronze weren't given much rank but at least with a faction they'd have group protection. Being from Ista he didn't care about what color dragon he got, he'd just be proud to be a dragonrider.
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Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 7:00 am
He wished there was something he could do to make the whole system go away. He hoped that Arolon and the others didn't regret coming. At least here there weren't lice, illness couldn't spread so easily, and the food was better. "I know," he said after a few moments with a soft sigh, "I wouldn't even consider suggesting to you that you don't join one of the factions. From our point of view it might be a strange system, but I gather it's been in place for hundreds of turns. It's not about to change, and I suppose it must work for them..."
Which faction was Arolon trying to get into? Maybe Sandstorm, seen as they supported females on fighting dragons it might seem most like home. Maybe the Flying Wherries, as somebody who those in power would see as a nobody that would make sense. Maybe Rising Sun; getting in with the most powerful faction would certainly be a bright move if you wanted to keep yourself and your future dragon safe.
"I assume there's nothing I can do to help you with this initiation task, whatever it is," R'than went on after a moment. "I suppose can't entirely blame them for being slightly hostile to us newcomers, but purposely setting you up to fail..." the grey-haired rider trailed off and sighed again, shaking his head slightly, wondering what challenge Arolon had been set. He hoped it wasn't anything stupid and dangerous, but even if it was he doubted he could dissuade the boy from trying. He just hoped that if he did fail, he'd have a chance with one of the other factions. Would they just reject him out of hand because they knew he’d tried to join a different faction first? He hoped not, he really hoped not.
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Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 2:10 pm
"You help by talking with me, at least I'm not ignored by everyone. Calms me down too. Thanks." Arolon looked up at R'than with gratitude. "I'll let you know if I make it into a faction, and maybe you could let me know which bronzerider you ally with. If we're in the same faction, that'd be cool. We'll celebrate somehow in our quest to make Igen our home, once we start fitting into it." He hoped Theron would let him talk to the brownrider, if not he'd have to sneak the meeting.
"You were right R'than, I think being here this long has already taught me alot. I always thought being weyrbred made me better and I didn't like outsiders crowding Ista. Here, I'M the outsider that's disliked and being weyrbred doesn't make them treat me any differently. Their weyrbred too so I thought they'd like me but they don't. They act worse than I once did, gave me a taste of my own medicine." He knew now that his lineage didn't matter, despite what Igen candidates thought.
"They treat the girls bad, think their only good as queenriders and to leave the other dragons for us men. What if the hatchling was destined for a female rider and 'betweens' when it can't find her? I wonder if their descrimination ever caused hatchling death?" He remembered the 'betweened' blue dragon all too clearly, the screams had left a lasting memory in him. "I'm with Sand Storm's thinking, I'll never treat a girl like that."
"Being here has made me a better person," He declared. He didn't like the task he was about to do, stealing something from a girl was dishonorable but the urge to join overrode his caution. He'd do it for his future dragon, if he ever impressed one.
"I hope they treat you with respect Garith, being a bronze isn't everything." He addressed the dragon. Speech over, he stood and picked up the wooden board he had been riding on earlier. "Came from my bed, I can put it back and fix it, don't worry. I just had to, it was fun." Arolon grinned sheepishly. "Please don't tell on me."
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Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 2:33 pm
Garith rumbled softly to the candidate's words and bowed his head in thanks and acknowledgment while his rider pondered what to say next.
"Well, I'm glad something positive has come for you out of this move, other than the extra space," R'than said eventually with a smile and a nod. "I must say I'm most sympathetic with Sandstorm too; I'll probably see if I an find a bronzerider family amongst their sympathizers to join. I can't imagine preventing women from Impressing greens and blues... And I won't tell," the rider gave a lopsided smile, "so far as I'm aware, there aren't any rules against temporarily deconstructing your bunk to make a... sledge I think? Yes, sledge, they got me to try that up at Benden once, turns and turns ago now. It was quite good fun, but I imagine it's different on sand than on snow." He probably wouldn't be any good anymore even if it was something he'd tried before; he might still be fit, but he was nowhere near as supple as he once had been.
"I don't expect we shall see rank any time soon," R'than went on thoughtfully after a moment, "but it doesn't matter really. Gives us more time for other things, eh old brown?"
Garith bowed his head once more, and for a moment his eyes swirled a brighter green. Yes. More time for the people who really needed them; those who did not yet know their lifemate. Had they retained their former position, their minds would have been full of duty to the wing they were to help care for and run. Anyone could do that, anyone would leap at the chance, but there were only a few riders come from Ista who might turn their minds to helping the candidates through uncertain skies. It was a rarer post theirs, and no less honorable for being unofficial. Those who had none to watch their back needed support, and they would provide it.
Smiling faintly to himself, R'than nodded to his dragon in return. As ever, his lifemate spoke his own thoughts. This was what they needed to be doing right now, far more than they needed to rush into finding allies of their own.
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Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 3:28 pm
"Alright, I've got to go guys. I have to put my bunk back together before they come looking for me to do my daily chores." It was cleaning duty for him today, he wasn't looking foreword to it but he wasn't about to slack off, he didn't want to get in trouble.
"Bye R'than, Garith!" He stood, gently scratching Lokkes headknob. The blue flitt curled contently around his bonded's neck, yawning sleepily. Little wings folded against his body, plump from the lunch he had just stolen from Arolon and eaten.
"I'll see you again with better news I hope." He waved then walked back towards Igen weyr at a slow pace, somewhat clumsy with sand underfoot.
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Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 7:43 am
"Alright," R'than smile and nodded, pushing himself back to his feet and dusting the sand off his trousers, "I shall see you soon then Arolon. Good fortune with your task, whatever it might be, and if you need me don't hesitate to come to my weyr. Send your flitt - err, Lokkes - up to our ledge and we'll come down to you. When we're not on duty Garith is often out there, so it should be easy enough to spot."
As the boy turned to head back to the Weyr, R'than moved closer to his dragon and lent on the brown's shoulder companionably. He hoped their brief chat had helped Arolon at least a little, he certainly seemed happier than he had when they had started talking. He worried though. What was the lad being asked to do? Was it dangerous? Might it get him thrown out? He hoped not, he really did. Sighing faintly to himself, the grey-haired rider stepped up onto his dragon's neck and secured himself in preparation for take off. In the end all he could do was wait and see. He hoped he did not have to wait too long.
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