Green Teeth and Jerky

Writers: Eimi, Heather
Date Posted: 21st January 2019

Characters: T'kala, T'nep
Description: T'kala shows T'nep the joys of watch duty.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 8, day 4 of Turn 9

Meith gently backwinged onto the ledge next to T'kala's blue. He gave
the Wingrider a smart salute after dismounting from his brown's back.
"T'nep, Weyrling to brown Meith, sir. I've been assigned to stand
Watch with you and learn how it's done."

T'kala had to refrain from doing a double take. He'd forgotten when
he'd seen that he'd be shadowed by a Weyrling just exactly how young
T'nep was. Although, the bluerider thought back, the brown Weyrling
was probably only a couple of Turns younger than he had been when he'd
Impressed Dagreth. Images of his own Impression flashed through his
mind.

}:And you were small and runty, remember?:{ Dagreth pointed out.

**Ah yes, thank you for reminding me.**

"Well met, T'nep. I am T'kala of blue Dagreth. You might as well come
and have a seat." T'kala gestured. "From here we can see all of the
incoming and outgoing dragons, as well as any travelers by wagon or
foot. Fortunately for you, the afternoon shift is one of the better
ones to get."

"Why's that, sir?" the weyrling asked as he took a seat and drank in
the view. It was almost as good as from dragonback. Almost.

T'kala didn't think anyone had ever called him 'sir' before... He liked it.

"Well," he said, stretching back in his chair and crossing his arms
over his chest, "there tends to be a lot of activity from midday down
to the ringing of the evening supper bell. That means there's plenty
of recording to do to keep you awake. Early mornings are tough because
you're sleepy and there's not a lot of dragons coming and going, and
then nights are the worst because there's practically zero activity
but you still have to stay awake anyway. That's why they use it as
punishment."

"I see." The weyrling looked up into the sky as a dragon popped in,
trumpeting a greeting. "Do you ever get the night watch?"

"No," he said this while jotting down the dragon's name, rider's name,
"in-going" and the time on a lined piece of hide. "I tend to just
follow the rules and hope my Wingleader never notices me. Not that
K'ran's a bad Wingleader, I just prefer to do my job and be left
alone." He quickly amended. "Okay, the next dragon that comes in or
leaves, write down the dragon name, rider's name, if they're in-going
or out-going, and then the time." T'kala handed the clipboard to
T'nep.

The weyrling had been leaning over to peek at what the rider had been
writing, but hadn't expected to be handed the book so soon! "Oh, uh,
ok. I mean, yes, sir." He took it and looked at all the traffic that
had already been through. It certainly was busy in the afternoon!
"What if I don't know the dragon and rider's names?"

"Meith will know. Dragons incoming and outgoing announce their
arrivals and departures." T'kala remembered the first time he'd been
handed the clipboard, afraid that he would bungle up dragon and rider
names.

"What if I don't know how to spell the name?" After all, a dragon
couldn't explain that.

"Sound it out the best you can. The goldriders at each Weyr have
records of all their Weyr's dragonriders. If something were to go
amiss and our reportings today were needed, they could match it up
close enough. Although I'll be honest with you, it can be tricky with
some of these dragons who have the extra long names and five
syllables." T'kala laughed.

"Yeah," T'nep chuckled, though he wasn't quite sure what the bluerider
found so funny. "So, what's it like? In a Fighting Wing, I mean."

"Busy," T'kala replied. "In between practices and 'falls, watch
duties, sweepriding, and transports you get a wee bit of leisure
time."

"Yeah, but it's exciting though, isn't it? You get to go all over the
territory, fight Thread... " It sounded far more exciting then just
drilling with the Weyrlings and chores all day.

"I mean, it is more exciting than being a Weyrling," T'kala agreed.
"But it is still a lot of work, and not all of it is as exciting as
flying Thread... Like watch duty," he tapped the clipboard in T'nep's
hands as another dragon entered the skies.

"Oh, right." T'nep looked up at the sky and then back down at his
pad. "H'fren and Kaji... Kagirath? From Vista Point?" He scribbled
down the information and was still writing when another two dragons
popped in together. "Oh shards. Who are they? Slow down, I can't
write that fast!"

T'kala reached over for one of the jerky snacks that he brought with
him when he had watch duty. "K'ovi, blue Teagrath," he bit off a piece
of the salted meat and chewed, "and Mayzie, green Ubbreth. Both Far
Island Weyr."

"K'vi and green Teeth and M'zie and green Ubleth..."

"Ugh!" T'kala inhaled the bite of beef jerky down the wrong pipe. He
coughed and spluttered, waved his hand, and shook his head. "No, no,"
he said between ragged, watery gasps. He wiped his streaming eyes. "I
said, K'OVI, K-apostrophe-O-V-I of _blue_ Teagrath and MAYzie of green
Ubb- hear it? Ubb-RETH."

T'nep crossed out the name he had just written and started rewriting
the list when his brown announced }:I see people on the road.:{

"Oh shards, more?" his lifemate cried in despair. He thought this was
supposed to be a slow and boring job!

"We're just getting started," T'kala laughed.

Last updated on the January 21st 2019

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Green Teeth and Jerky