Hours Before the Hatching

[Moo]

Arching an eyebrow, N’kio bit his lower lip to keep from grinning as he watched Elora. She appeared very composed, just as she always seemed to be around him, and yet…she had not answered all of the questions. If she wasn’t, then it wouldn’t be so difficult to talk about. Or so the thinking went. So she was nervous! Just knowing the fact that she was attempting to keep collected and not get her hopes up was…cute.

“I think it’s better than slim to none, but…” He followed her suit and shrugged, leaving the topic to rest. He wouldn’t push the topic if she wasn’t willing to talk; it’s not as if the Hatching was a secret. The dragons would be at the Sands themselves.

“Aye, it’s entirely possible. Then again, what goes on at the Weyr isn’t normally something I pay attention to,” he said, his eyes automatically drawn toward the motion of her hands. “When you live where I do, Flights and such things aren’t usually on your mind.” With a slight smirk, he lifted his eyes back to her face. “They’re too much of a distraction, and distractions at work are not...encouraged. Generally speaking.”

He scanned the dining hall once more. Everyone seemed to be waiting with bated breath, as if they stood on the edge of a knife. Hatchings are supposed to be a fun event, right?

If I remember correctly, you were just as nervous as everyone else.

Now that made him smile. “You know, I didn’t even want to go the Hatching I was Searched for when I was, well, a few Turns younger. Absolutely hated the idea of Impressing,” he said to Elora, rotating the letters in his hands. Turning back to her, he shrugged again. “But, that’s a story for another time, and time...seems to be in short supply today.”

N'kio cleared his throat. “Well, I would hate to keep you from learning about Melisong. As you’re clearly not nervous, would you like me to leave you to your reading? Or…would you rather I stay? Choice is yours.”

[Nicole]

Knowledge of what was going on in the world, especially if you were a part of it, shouldn't be a distraction. Theoretically. It had never been to her, except when she daydreamed.

Okay, maybe he had a poin-How does he know I'm nervous? I am not nervous! The rock in her stomach got slightly heavier, as if to remind her of where she was. Or he shouldn't assume I'm nervous!

Elora lifted the book and hit him on the shoulder with it. "I am not nervous!" She yanked the book back into her lap and looked down at it.

Nope. Not nervous. She wasn't nervous. Right? Maybe if she kept telling herself that, the nerves would go away.

Besides, there was something else she could focus on now. Something he had just said. Something-

"I just assumed everybody would want to Impress." She looked back up at him, head tilted slightly to the side, eyes wide - the perfect curious face. "Why didn't you?"

It didn't even dawn on her that it might be a personal question, or that it would be prying into his life, or that it was everything she had said she didn't want to happen to her. Not wanting to Impress - for somebody who had wanted a dragon their whole life, well - it just wasn't fathomable.

[Moo]

“Hey, wait a minute!” he protested with a laugh, ducking to avoid another swing of the book, “I didn’t say you were!” By the time he chanced looking over at her, she had already snatched up the tome and had it sitting in her lap.

N’kio sat up straighter, emboldened by the idea that he would see the book coming next time. “Okaaay. Right, well, you’re not nervous at all. Silly of me to think that.” He chuckled to himself. “Yeah, I think you’ve beaten that fact into submission.”

I like her all the more for it.

Of course you would!

Can she do it again, but only when I’m there with you so I could see?

Not saying a word.

At that exact moment, N’kio realized he had been staring at her lap the entire time. Quickly adjusting his eye line, he imagined being caught looking at her lap (even if it was to be sure the book would be staying there) would not go over well. Thankfully, she had moved on to another topic – though whether it was actual curiosity or nerves talking, he didn’t dare ask. Two whacks with that book was plenty for one day.

“Well, it all had to do with how I grew up.” He scratched his chin and propped himself up on the table with his elbow, slipping easily into the story. “You don’t really get a childhood at Cliffside. I started learning young, and was expected to follow in my father’s footsteps. Take up an apprenticeship as a fisherman, and bring home additional marks until I was old enough to be on my own – that sort of thing. It wasn’t an easy life, but I enjoyed the learning most of all. Not to mention, the work was incredibly satisfying, and as I grew older, I fell in love with it all. Still am,” he smiled.

“There was no need for a dragon, save for our WatchRider at the time. A ship was all you needed, and dragon would only slow you down and get in the way. It'd keep you stuck on land, and all I wanted was a tall ship and a star to steer her by. Can’t sail the world with a dragon as an anchor.” Much like they did when he was talking to Metanath, he felt his eyes unfocus as he picked through his memories. “Just when it seemed my life was set, and my role found, a SearchRider came and took me to Monaco for a Hatching.”

He took a breath and looked back up at Elora. “I hated the idea of Impressing – it just didn’t fit into my life! It was probably the worst idea I had ever heard of. And according to my fourteen-Turn-old self, I had better plans. But when I actually stood there on the Sands, in front of twelve eggs and those bright dragons…something changed. I felt a part of something much bigger than myself. Then the eggs began to hatch, and it was chaos, and...somehow I Impressed Metanath. Or rather, he Impressed me. Actually pushed me off of the Sands in order to get food.”

N’kio couldn’t help but grin. “Nothing's changed since. But it was such an incredible feeling, Impressing him. It was like I had found a part of myself I had been missing – I couldn’t believe I had been so childish in my thinking. It felt so right to Impress, I had no idea why I didn’t think of it before.” His next train of thought turned his smile into a brazen smirk, and his eyes never left Elora. “The only comparable feeling to Impression, I’ve found, is through sex. You know, right after you hav—”

N’kio! Not in front of the Candidates!

He had the decency to blush at the chastisement; he was sure Elora heard every word of it. “Sorry about that,” he said to her, and took a look around to see if anyone else was watching. “Anyway, you get the general idea.” Or did she? She doesn’t look old by any means, but surely she knows… He left that thought alone.

“Long story short, after our Weyrling training, I was sent back home to take on the role of WatchRider, and I found out that I could learn even more about the seas through Metanath. I can’t sail as much as I’d like to, so I’ve adopted the skies as a second sea. Very much like sailing, in fact, with the wind patterns and reading the skies. Seems to be a good compromise, most days.”

[Nicole]

Elora had a dozen comments she wanted to make. About N'kio's childhood, about Metanath, about his blushing when it came to talking about sex.

But the room had gotten quiet. Not at his comment.

Something was off.


And then the humming started.

Elora dropped everything she was doing -- literally, with the book she was reading, and metaphorically, as in her conversation with N'kio -- and took off towards her chambers, not even bothering to say goodbye to the Rider. He'd understand.

And if he didn't, oh well.