Your First Lesson

Writers: Halyonix, Heather
Date Posted: 21st October 2024

Characters: Rasme, Sareya
Description: Sareya shows up bright and early for her first day of training with grandma Rasme.
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 1, day 14 of Turn 12

Rasme

Sareya

Sareya showed up at her grandmother's weyr right after the breakfast hour had begun, her hands holding a tray of klah and meatballs, her steps bouncy yet balanced. She was looking forward to today because today was her first official day as a dragonhealer apprentice!

"Good morning Piketh!" she greeted brightly as she approached.

Pike turned her head, eyes whirling with amusement. }:Good morning. You are a brave one. She is inside.:{

"She" was standing in her comfy robe, her frizzy hair extra untameable and sticking out in all directions. Her missing eye was covered by her patch, but the other was squinting blearily.

"Sareya," she croaked. Rasme should have predicted her overzealous granddaughter would have arrived early and perky.

Undaunted, Sareya replied, "Good morning, grandma! I know you aren't really a morning person but I wanted to get started early today because we have a lot of ground to cover, don't we? So I brought you klah and breakfast! You can eat and then we can get started!"

The word "grandma" made shivers race down Rasme's spine so forcefully that she visibly twitched.

Rasme merely nodded in response as she took a seat at her small dining table. She reached for the klah first thing. She would need it to deal with all of Sareya's perkiness. The goldrider hadn't realized that Sareya becoming an apprentice equated to one-on-one lessons, but she supposed it was a good way to spend more time with her granddaughter.

"What is your class schedule like for the sevenday?" Rasme asked after quite a few sips of klah and a bite of a breakfast pastry.

"Well, aside from the usual Candidate classes that I have," Sareya recounted dutifully, "I have my early morning lecture spot with the Weyrdragonhealer but I lobbied for my afternoon slot to be with you! I figured who better to teach me dragonhealing than you two, especially you. Piketh likes me and I'll learn a lot from you!"

Rasme grunted. It was true, Piketh did seem particularly fond of Sareya, perhaps more so than any of Rasme's other grandchildren. She drained the rest of the cup of klah and smacked the empty vessel back onto the table.

"Alright, dear. Let me get changed. Then, you can braid my hair." She reached up and touched a hand to the chin-length frizzy mop.

Pleased that she had successfully convinced her grandmother to teach her, Sareya grinned and said, "Deal!" While Rasme got changed, Sareya quickly ate her breakfast and broke out her notepad to begin taking notes. This was going to be great!

--

"Now, this Faledreth. From the color of her eyes, how is she feeling right now?" Rasme asked Sareya. The goldrider appeared much more put together now with her typical work clothes on and her hair braided smartly down her neck.

Sareya, having grown up around dragons, thought that this question was way too easy. "Well, her eyes are green, which means that she's feeling calm and happy. If they were red, she'd be angry. If they were yellow, she'd be afraid or worried. Blue is also a good color -- it means happy excitement. Grey is...well, grey isn't a good color." She didn't really want to say what grey meant but everyone knew what color grey meant in dragons.

"The reason," Rasme said, ignoring all of the extra information, "is that without a dragon of your own yet, you'll need to be able to read a dragon's feelings externally before approaching to work with them. Dragons, of course, would never purposefully harm you, but a dragon in pain or distress can be a liability. Since Faledreth is in a good mood, why don't you greet her?"

Bouncing forward a step, Sareya held out a hand, palm up, and said, "Good morning, Faledreth! How are you feeling today?"

Faledreth lowered her hair and exhaled, blowing strands of Sareya's hair around her face. The green then made a warbly sound low in her throat. Rasme often referred to it as 'purring,' since it reminded her of a feline. The green butted Sareya's stomach with her snout, clearly demanding a scritch.

"As you might guess, Faledreth is a favorite among the other dragonhealers. Not all dragons are as lovely to work with."

As Sareya obliged Faledreth's demands, she said, "I'd hate to think of any of them as a favorite simply because doesn't that mean that they're in the Infirmary a lot?" The idea slightly bothered her because she didn't like the idea of seeing the same dragon injured over and over. She tried to remember how many times her fathers' dragons were in the Infirmary.

"No, she's just the current favorite in rotation. Come on, we'll go see Vamerdeth next. He's the opposite of Faledreth, although they're clutch siblings." Rasme's mouth quirked into a smirk as she directed her granddaughter toward a large brown dragon, whose hide was such a dark shade of brown he looked like was constantly sitting in the shadow of a dark cave.

"Oh, you poor thing! That looks like it hurts," Sareya remarked as she noticed the extensive scoring on Vamerdeth's back leg. As she had with Faledreth, she offered the brown dragon her hands, assuring him with, "We'll get you fixed up right away! You'll be flying again in no time," as though she could speed up the healing process.

Rasme watched in amusement as Vamerdeth glowered under his breath, his eyes an orangey-red.

}:I do _not_ want her to touch me,:{ Vamerdeth stated, recoiling his head away from her hands.

}:Relax, my lovely brown,:{ Piketh's voice dipped in like honey. Her presence oozed through the mental link, using her special skills as a gold to calm the brown.

Vamerdeth settled, but he still did not allow Sareya to touch him.

"Vamerdeth is a perfect example of why people cannot progress to journeyman level without Impressing. Sometimes, dragon injuries are so severe that the presence of another dragon has to be used. As an apprentice, you should not approach a dragon like this without a journeyman or master present with you. Dragons in severe pain or distress are at risk for /betweening/ and we want to make sure, at all costs, that doesn't happen."

Sareya was floored. Insulted? No. It just shocked her that Vamerdeth _didn't_ want her near him. She was trying to help! Couldn't he understand that? "But...we're here to _help_!" she exclaimed, flabbergasted. "Does Piketh have to explain that to him? I thought...I thought he'd know that already."

Rasme studied the dark shadowy brown dragon. "Sometimes the pain overwrites what the mind knows to be true." The retired goldrider reached out her hand and pressed it to Vamerdeth's eyeridge, which he allowed with a plaintive rumble. "Come on, Sareya, we have others to visit."

Her granddaughter studied her for a moment, unsure if Rasme was still talking about the dragon or about something else. With adults, it was hard to know. But she replied with a subdued, "Sure," and the moment was gone.

Last updated on the October 28th 2024

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