Skin Deep (2/2)

Writers: Aaron, Avery
Date Posted: 27th November 2017

Characters: K'don, Saheni
Description: Kedon tries not to patronize Saheni
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 2, day 13 of Turn 9

K'don

"Oh." Saheni crinkled her face enough that it pulled on the scar, and she
winced and cursed softly – then looked horrified for it.

If he'd been born here, why didn't Saheni recognize him? But then she
remembered. It had been Search to Hatching to Impressing within a
single sevenday and then all she'd known were other weyrlings when she
hadn't even known how to get around yet. She knew weyrlinghood, and
Threadfall.

It wasn't clean and sanitized, wings rising and easily burning away
Thread like in Harper tales. Threadfall was scary and intense. It was
chaotic, with so much to see and pay attention to – the Thread
falling, that you saw, the Thread your dragon saw, where other dragons
were, how much stone you had, all your energy. It was overwhelming.
She'd been so scared every time she flew it. She had had some
illusions about flying it, thinking it was an honor to do it – and
then she'd done it and she'd been scored and everything hurt so much
and it was awful!

And here was this boy who was weyrbred and he was acting like her
brother had when he'd wanted to be Searched instead. Like being a
rider was some big honor and she needed to be thanked for it like they
were all lords or something and not people who had to get dirty and
smelly and spend forever doing sweeps and cleaning dragons and
throwing themselves into Fall until they got burned and killed.

Shouldn't he know what it was really like? Know better?

"If you're weyrbred, I don't know how you can think Threadfall is
noble, or it's great, or that there's anything good about it. Haven't
you seen too many people get maimed and die for that?"

Kedon tilted his head curiously. It was not Threadfall itself that was
noble, of course. "I've seen plenty of people get... maimed and die.
I've heard the dragons keen. There's nothing good or noble about
Threadfall, not about dying or burning or... or..." He tried to
breathe as a sob caught in his throat. "What's noble is the people who
face all that so that everyone else doesn't have to. It's not what you
do that's noble, it's that you do it. We all owe you so much for what
you've given for us. What kind of person would I be if I didn't at
least thank you for it?"

"You'd be someone just like everyone else." she said.

It felt like they were talking at cross-purposes. She couldn't
understand why he thought it was anything special or worth thanking,
it was just what you had to do once you had a dragon in your head.

"I wish I did something else," Saheni suddenly blurted.

It was not often that Kedon let his feelings overflow this much. But
he could hardly keep them in. He shuddered as he struggled not to weep
for Saheni. "You're not a bad person for wishing that," he said. Just
like everyone else. He felt so small, so insignificant, so useless.
How could the whole Weyr, the whole world have let this girl feel this
way? Or was he broken himself for feeling differently? "You are a good
person," he insisted.

"You don't even know who I am or where I'm from. Are you saying that
just because I have a dragon?"

"You don't just have a dragon. You went up there. You fought. You...
you bled. For me. For us," said Kedon. "Bad people don't just do that.
They don't brave pain and fire and... and death. If you were a bad
person, you wouldn't have gone. I know you say you had to, but. Nobody
who can disappear to anywhere in the world whenever they want has to
do anything."

"You can't just skip out to anywhere on Pern if you have a dragon."
Sehani leaned forward to stare at him. "If I tried to not show up to
Threadfall, well, Ahazith would probably just bring me back because
she had to fly it and so did I. And you'd get in trouble and the
queens would probably make you and – you can't just not," she
finished.

There was one place to go, one place any rider could go, and no one
could ever make them come back. No one could ever make them fight. But
Kedon was more afraid of that place than anything else in the world.
Cold, black, empty nothing, forever. And he never wanted to tell
anyone it was a place where they could escape Thread for fear they
might go there.

"It's your move," he said. What else was there to say?

After all she'd said to him, calling him naive, telling him he didn't
know anything despite being weyrbred and with dragonrider parents, and
he was still...trying to be nice? To play with her?

Saheni pressed a hand to her forehead. "You still want to play? Somehow?"

"Well, yeah?" Kedon did not understand why that was so difficult to
fathom. He kept his promises. He said he would keep her company. So he
would. Maybe she was trying to get him to give up, and maybe K'ran
would have understood why, but as far as Kedon was concerned, none of
that mattered. All that mattered was she was alone and hurting, and he
said he would help.

She couldn't believe him. But if she chased him off now, she'd be back
to being upset about not seeing Ahazith. And while he was making her a
little stressed out and upset, that was better than feeling nothing,
right?

"Sure," she said, moving the piece to start it off. Maybe she could
figure out how to keep this nice.

Last updated on the December 10th 2017

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Skin Deep (2/2)