The Inscrutible Mind of a Dragon

Writers: Aaron, Avery
Date Posted: 2nd November 2017

Characters: K'don, V'rel
Description: Fresh as a rose, the two boys head to dinner and talk about what dragons like
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 2, day 1 of Turn 9

K'don

"I didn't know birthing animals and ballsacks smelled alike," he said with a snort at the mental image.

"Yes, I was thinking about it so we get food before all the good stuff is taken."

Kedon laughed as he dried off and slipped on his trunks and sandals. "They don't smell so much alike, but the masters pretty much take care of the birth part. I had lots of other mucking work to do today, too."

He headed back to his bunk and dressed in clean clothes. "I like the sound of getting some of the good stuff." His stomach rumbled to punctuate the point.

"Sounds like you had a long hard day. It's going to get worse now that the eggs are laid. The classes are going to step up more. And the girls, they might be _insufferable_."

"I'll sleep good tonight, that's for sure. Who do you think's gonna get the goldling? Or who do you want to get it?" Kedon really had no idea. Even living at the weyr his whole life and having a goldrider for a mother figure, he still could not have decided.

"It's much more fun to speculate on the girls, since we're not one of the ones in contention, isn't it? I'm so _glad_ I'm ineligible." And he would be even if he was a girl.

"Well, I've known Neria since I got here. She's really smart and she's been a leader of her group of weyrbrats, so that's got to be good. A bit hot-headed, though. Maybe that'll suit her to a green."

"I know lots of folks wait a long time. Or never Impress. So I try not to get too excited about it. But it's hard not to..." said Kedon. Only one girl could get the gold. It almost seemed unfair that there were so few. Vatirel had less time left to Impress than Kedon did. But still plenty in the end. "Is there a color you want most?"

"It always seems like there are so many dragonets when you look at clutches with more than 30, but then there are so many dragon hopefuls all across Pern," Vatirel mused.

"Want? Any dragon that will have me. I know a bronze would Impress my father and make him think I can follow in his footsteps, but I know I'm not going to have one."

Kedon smiled, as he had said almost exactly the same thing when Cyradis asked him what color he wanted. "How do you know you won't get a bronze?" he asked, curiously.

"I like men a little too much for that," Vatirel said cheerfully. Men who liked men wound up on greens and blues.

Kedon pondered. He had never really quite understood, exactly, the concept of "liking" the way most folk meant when they said things like that – "I like men," or "I like women." He supposed it must make sense to nearly everyone else, as they tended to pair off that way. He understood that – the companionship made some amount of sense. But when it came to the preference of men over women or vice versa, something escaped him.

Moreover, something seemed fundamentally unfair about the dragons having a care about any of that. He wondered why a bronze should care whether Vatirel liked men. Some things, he supposed, just were what they were, and they were just going to be beyond his understanding.

Maybe Vatirel knew?

"Why do they care about that?" he asked.

"I asked my dad once and he had a pretty good reason. Of course, neither of us are dragons, so we're not experts. You might have to ask a dragon, if you could get one to answer. But he said it's all about flight preferences. Bronzes fly golds, and golds are only ridden by women and bronzes by men. But a lot of greenriders are male, so you'd want someone who isn't grossed out by winding up with a man or a woman. Blues catch greens the most and blueriders tend to like both, so they're happy with whoever they wind up with."

"It is kind of weird though, sometimes browns and bronzes win greens, and browns even sometimes win gold. But maybe your dragon just wants to make sure you won't wind up with someone you're not okay with during a flight," he reasoned. "And by that logic I think I'd Impress blue. Or maybe green, but I've had a girlfriend before."

All the talk of flights and "ending up with" someone made Kedon's head hurt. He knew things went on between people in private, but it was not something he really wanted to think about – not when there was anything more than kissing and cuddling involved.

He hoped that the dragons would not decide this was a reason not to want him.

"What color dragon do you get if you don't really like boys or girls all that much?"
Vatirel blinked. "Do you mean not like like you don't really have a preference either way? That sounds kind of like blue. Or have you just not figured it out yet? I mean you're..." He tried to remember, knowing Kedon was younger. "I didn't know what I liked until I was 15."

"Maybe I'm just not old enough to know, then," said Kedon. "Do the dragons wait to pick you until you know?" he asked. He had never even considered these questions before. "I don't really know what it even means, like. I mean. I like to hold hands. And kiss. And snuggle. But I know sex stuff happens in flights. Where babies come from and all that. And I don't really want to do that with anyone."

Vatirel didn't want to immediately dismiss Kedon's question, even though he didn't know the answer. "I don't think dragons wait to pick you. I mean, people have Impressed as young as 12 Turns before, so they must know something about their riders even then," he reasoned.

"I've heard in a flight if you win, you have to do things. Maybe they're looking for you to not be totally repulsed by the idea. Do you think it's gross, or just not interesting?" Those seemed like very different questions.

"Not gross," said Kedon. It was just a thing people did, like breathing and eating. "Not interesting is a good way to say it." He never would have thought to phrase it that way, but it was nearly perfect.
Kedon was obviously relieved to hear that he was not entirely ineligible in the hatchlings' sight. He was smiling much more than before.

"If you're really worried, I'd ask a weyrlingmaster, just in case," Vatirel said. "But I think you should just keep a really open mind when the Hatching happens and it will go fine."
"I'm not worried," said Kedon. "Not yet, anyway." He grinned. "I've got plenty of time left to worry later."

As they approached the dining hall, Kedon smelled the wafting scents of dinner on the air, and his stomach grumbled again audibly.

"Mm, that smells good."

It did. That made Vatirel wonder something. "Is it weird to eat anything you've helped save? Since you're a beasthealer and all?"

"Not really," said Kedon. "People have to eat, you know. I wanted to be a beasthealer so I could help the beasts live as long and happy a life as they could, 'cause folks are gonna eat 'em whether I do that or not, you know? It's better that they were happy for a while first."
"That's a really interesting perspective. Tell me a bit more about your craft," Vatirel invited.

Last updated on the November 7th 2017

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The Inscrutible Mind of a Dragon