Soul Searching Sands [Shoki/F'mil]

[Kaya]

| 78.11.06 | afternoon, approaching sunset | up in the Stands |

They weren't strictly speaking allowed to be here. Perhaps it was better to say it wasn't technically advisable. Rioth was buried down into the Hatching Sands to escape the swirling snowstorm that raged outside through the Telgaran mountains. Em had joined her up the Stands, which were plenty warm for her liking. She was finishing up the last page of her work for lessons. She sighed, pondered, then jotted out the last several lines. She turned the paper over onto the other, and picked up the book. She squinted in the dimming light. She skimmed over the rest of the page, then flipped through until she caught the section on speculative topics in the back.

Hatchings and rider pairings and color types, examples and counterexamples. Mythos and traditions, superstitions and statistics. Quite the mix, really. She put the text down in the failing light and leaned back on the stands seating.

What do you think we'll do when we graduate?

Do? Rioth cracked open an eye and tilted her head, sand sliding off her nose. Keep flying. I think I'd like a wing. You?

A wing? And have you some grand plan to let them grant you one?

Psh, that's your job. It'll help if you get a little taller and a bit older, though. You grow so slow.

That is entirely unfair.

But nevertheless true.

It would be satisfying to use this blasted family name to accomplish something for once. Plus, can you imagine the look on aunt Coralee's face? She'd be livid. A woman wingleader, on a Pink, in a world where we're not warring the sky but each other. I think I'd like to see that.

[Shoki]

F’mil held three medical texts in his hands as he walked. Delgeth grumbled in the back of his head, but it cooled somewhat as he let Telgar in. The weather was disappointing, to Delgeth, and others, but Telgar’s mood was quiet, more enjoying of the excuse for quite indoor things. So it mellowed the dragon out. Though his tail twitched even so. F’mil sent affection to the dragon, who accepted it greedily before returning it. F’mil chuckled.

[smear:c82009]Perhaps I should hide out in the sands like Rioth has done. It might be nicer.[/smear:ffffff]

Oh? F’mil glanced toward where the sands were. Might be a good idea. It might not be kosher, but it certainly wasn’t the worst thing Delgeth had ever done. And it seemed Delgeth was more enthusiastic about it then resigned.

[smear:c82009]I will meet you there.[/smear:ffffff] F’mil grinned. A lovely afternoon with infectious diseases and his dragon. Sometimes life was kind.

He entered the stands, watching as Delgeth appeared on the sands and considered the Pink. Quick greeting. [smear:c82009]Evening Rioth.[/smear:ffffff] The Crimson and White dragon found a spot on the sand to curl up on and began breathing in the mood. F’mil smiled, then waved at Emmeline.

“Hello Emmeline, nice to see you again.” He paused to see if she was going to be busy working and therefore leave him to read or want to converse. Both made for a good evening.

[Kaya]

Well hello, Delgeth. Let yourself in, sure. Don't steal all the heat. she rumbled, burying her face in the impossibly hot sand. It felt nice.

"Hm?" Emmeline tilted her head back and looked up, seeing an upside down F'mil in her view. She took a passing moment to let go of her relative solitude, still staring at him, before pushing herself back up into a sitting position on the Stands. "I could say the same thing, F'mil." She looked from him to his Crimson-White setting into the sands. She patted the seat on the bench next to her. "Put your creepy books down a minute and tell me a story."

[Shoki]

[smear:c82009]Very well but I still get half.[/smear:ffffff] He shifted in his curled up state to push the sand to the side so he sunk down. Perfect. [smear:c82009]Crimson hides need more heat you know.[/smear:ffffff] Blatant lies.

F’mil smirked as Emmeline looked at him like a foreign creature for a moment before righting herself. He chuckled when she finally did speak. Well then.

“I assume you want a story without infection in it.” He joked lightly while sitting down and putting his stack of books next to him. He looked out on the sands for a moment and he remembered something. “Oh, I believe I said something about telling impression stories before. Did you want to hear mine now?” A mere flicker of understanding flowed to F’mil, but Delgeth remained largely a mirror for Telgar. With a little wry amusement lingering from his conversation with Rioth. It was nice to see Delgeth relaxed. It usually didn’t last very long.

[Kaya]

Well I'm a growing dragon and need more of everything for it. Rioth retorted, spreading a wing into Delgeth's space to make a point.

"Not unless the story calls for it," Em mused, smirking wide at Rioth's antics. But his suggested topic would probably not call for it. "I can't think of a more appropriate setting. Spin away, friend. Let's hear this tale." She grinned, blonde hair bouncing around her face as she spoke enthusiastically. The storm hadn't done much to dampen her spirits.

[Shoki]

[smear:c82009]Careful. I’ve been known to bite.[/smear:ffffff] Delgeth said it so matter of factly, and he very slightly opened his mouth to complete the picture. He was pretty relaxed though.

F’mil grinned and then quickly gathered his thoughts. Where to start? He supposed it needed some explanation, his impression. How much to go into? Well, he supposed he would start with the obvious.

“So, I was 15 turns when it when the weyrleader of Ista went to my father. He offered a candidacy. I was lucky enough to get the candidacy. Rai, that’s Raisagil, he had very important business being heir and all. I think my father didn’t really want to risk Rai impressing. I was the ‘spare’ so even if I did, it wasn’t so bad. Plus they needed all the help they could get trying to marry me off later. Ex candidates are still in demand. So they sent me for the hatching. It was a good sized hatching, Golden egg shelled, the whole works. So it was a good chance.” He paused before grinning widely. “For me, it was my only chance. When you are offered it, they have you stand then take you back home. And I knew it.” He leaned toward Emmeline conspiratorially. “So at the touching I begged each and every egg to take me if they didn’t mind. I didn’t know if it would work, mind but that doesn’t stop a man from trying.” He chuckled and leaned back.

[Kaya]

I'm terrified. Rioth deadpanned. She let her wing sink to the sand and rolled away from the larger dragon, unconcerned.

Emmeline listened. Her expression was a bit surprised when he brought up how he was carted around. She had forgotten. That's how it was for the rest, the non-weyrbrats. They arrived and disappeared so fast she paid little attention to most of them, except at Coralee's urging. It's who you know, and all that. "I didn't take you for the begging kind," she mused, tilting her head a fraction further to the side. "But dragons do strange things to people," she cast a vague gesture at Rioth as if it were obvious. "So, did they listen to you?"

[Shoki]

Delgeth rumbled, amused. It was nice and warm, he was more likely to be amused then snap. He wiggled a bit more into the sand, his tail twitching slightly even as it was half buried. Give him much longer and he could get in a good nap.

“Perhaps not, but I had no small amount of dreaming about being a rider as a child.” F’mil smiled fondly at the memory. Of course part of it had been him not wanting to go back home. That was a separate issue though. “Did they listen? Well they heard me it seemed. I got a lot of… curiosity directed my way. It was fascinating.” He loved that memory. So many little minds wondering. “I couldn’t really tell at the time if it had gone well, but I hoped it did.”

“When the day of the hatching arrived, everyone was tense. All of the girls were staring at the Gold egg like it would fly away and the two other big eggs were getting stared down by the boys. It was a good proper hatching.” He paused, wondering how exactly to put all of this. Well, he might as well talk dragons. They were all burned into his mind. He really did love dragons. “A good sturdy Brown hatched, Blue and Green joined him soon. Everything was good, as a second Green hatched…” He paused. “Then a Crimson and White dragonet broke egg, and everyone got real quiet.”

Delgeth snorted from the sands, drifting off to sleep.

[Kaya]

"Well, you don't see a dragon like Delgeth every day," Emmeline agreed, glancing over towards the resting dragon for a moment. "He's quite the eye catcher. I wonder if it caught a few of those watching the big eggs too. But I know what you mean by attention, I think. I had this little Green stare up at me for a good long while, but Rioth turned up and made sure she got what she wanted. Typical," Em laughed. "So Delgeth arrives on the scene, then what?"

[Shoki]

F’mil chuckled. “They certainly know how to get what they want.” Dragons in general. He paused for a moment and wondered how to say it. It was more ordinary then one hoped but it didn’t always make it easy.

“I guess I would say the usual tragedy occurred.” He glanced out at the sands. “The Brown disappeared. I was not looking at the time, but the keens were clear. Well, he…” Hmm, how to put it. “Delgeth did not take the loss well. He barreled into the male candidates and it was not pretty. I just remember watching and thinking how sad he must be. Sad and angry and it must have eventually been too much for him. He got out of the candidates and went out onto the sands to just…be.” If he had been human he would have said gone to cry.

“Well, I was worried for him. I guess that was all he needed. Since he came straight for me begging that I not be scared of him and that he would not hurt me.” And that he didn’t want to be hurt anymore either. F’mil chuckled. “Well, I was as happy as could be, as you’d expect, but we didn’t really make any friends that day.”

[Kaya]

"Oh." She sat quietly and listened. She supposed that this part of the story didn't make it into the version mentioned in passing to most. She had had her own concerns when her Rioth was locked in silent stares with that Green. And she had barely breathed a sigh of relief when it passed before she was lost to the overwhelm of Impression. And the detached observation of her family, proud she'd Impressed, disappointed her dragon was smaller than they'd hoped. She shared none of their emotions, really she just remembered awe and gratitude. For this, she wasn't quite sure what to say. Any sort of platitude of reassurance felt hollow and unhelpful.

"He suits you." she settled on, still unsure if those were the words she wanted. She hoped it didn't color her expression too far. Maybe just enough that he saw she intended well. "And you've gotten each other through some tough stuff. Did the other weyrlings ever warm up?"

[Shoki]

F’mil beamed. “Doesn’t he?” There was nothing put pure adoration for his dragon on his face. On the sands Delgeth finally drifted all the way to sleep, aided by the sunny disposition of his rider. The duel toned dragon was most at home when his rider was happy. Fortunately for him, that was most of the time. Unfortunately everyone else was a mixed bag.

“Mmm, not really. Some were less actively mad, but not as much as would be helpful. Jisralna was the exception, she remained my good friend. She’s hard to fluster.” F’mil chuckled. Understatement. “I arranged to transfer the moment I graduated. It worked out better for everyone that way.” His tone hadn’t darkened at all. It was a history to him, and it wasn’t that he kept it a secret as much as it wasn’t something that came up much. “Telgar’s a good place, and we like it here.”

[Kaya]

She knew that expression of connection with a dragon that took over his face.

"Agreed. Bit stuffy sometimes though. But you help with that," she smiled. She played with the edges of the papers. She looked at the sleeping dragons and then back at her friend. Some of the details were lost in the evening light, which reminded her- "You know, it's good and dark now. Come get dinner with me." she insisted, gathering up the papers.

[Shoki]

F’mil laughed. Both in that he being the unstuffy one and the fact that Telgar felt positively loose compared to where he hailed from originally. It was a nice thought.

“Alright. I will try to be on my best behavior.” He picked up his books, all of which would make downright terrible dinner conversation. “After you.” He waited for the weyrling to grab her work, while sparing a glance for his sleeping dragon.

At least Delgeth had a pleasant memory about hatching sands now. F’mil smiled at the thought.

“Dark, huh? You know, that reminds me of a tale…” Best behavior didn’t always last long with F’mil. But it was such find talking to the pink rider about things.