Look Smart!

Writers: Jane, Kaysea
Date Posted: 1st January 2008

Characters: K'hetah, D'gan
Description: K'hetah meets one of the weyrlings at Dolphin Cove.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 7, day 19 of Turn 4

**This one?**

}:Velth,:{ Loeth supplied by way of confirmation that this was the weyrling on duty ferrying people around the Weyr and, further, was the one the bronze had called to do what he was too lazy to bother with.

"Thank you," K'hetah muttered under his breath, wondering whether it had been a good idea to move Loeth to a place that boast warm, clear tropical waters. If dragon hide wrinkled in the water Loeth would look like a dried grape by now with all the bobbing about he did out in the bay.

}:I am swimming.:{ The Wingleader could have sworn there was a haughty sniff in the comment from his dragon and smiled as he walked across the gritty Weyrbowl floor toward the weyrling brown dragon and rider.

**Look smart!** D'gan straightened at the approach of the wingleader.

}:Yes, he does look smart, but then all wingleaders do:{ Velth replied quizzically.

**I didn't mean... Oh, never mind!** D'gan couldn't quite wipe the smile from his face as the wingleader approached. He stood upright and hoped he looked competent, he had no doubt Velth looked good, the brown always did.

"Good evening," K'hetah said, glancing over the nearly grown brown dragon and being reassured to see strength as well as size showing under the hide. Sometimes weyrling dragons outgrew themselves and then carrying two adults could be a strain. And it would be two adults in this case, for the weyrling rider looked as if he might already be in his third decade. "Velth's name was supplied, but not yours."

"D'gan, wingleader," he replied, standing even straighter. "Can Velth and I convey you somewhere?" he asked, glancing behind him to make sure Velth, too, was looking efficient.

"To my weyr on the seaward face. I was warned about it not having corridor access, but at the time I thought my lifemate might be willing to help out." He grinned at the young man. "My mistake."

"Well we can certainly get you up there, Sir." D'gan nodded, as Velth rose onto his hind legs and proffered his foreleg. "Can I ask, er,"
would he seem impertinent he wondered, but curiosity had the better of him, "your dragon - is he injured?" he tilted his head slightly in question.

"My dragon is _swimming,_" K'hetah admitted as he climbed up onto the brown dragon's neck. He tried to recall when he had last flown on a dragon other than the swimming-obsessed Loeth but couldn't. It had certainly been Turns ago and the differences between his own mature and bulky bronze and this young brown were marked. "Warm tropical bays are a new thing in his life and he seems to be taking to them with far to much enjoyment."

"Oh," D'gan grinned as he hauled himself up Velth's side, "well that's one thing I don't have to worry about yet. Velth's too intimidated by -
well, just about everyone right now, to put a claw out of place."

"Not a prideful dragon?" K'hetah suggested with a chuckle. "I wish I could say the same. At least he Impressed an adult rider."

"How old were you when you Impressed, er..."

}:Loeth:{ Velth supplied, amused that he was transporting the older dragon's rider.

**Thanks, and don't go getting any ideas!** D'gan cautioned his lifemate. "...Loeth?" he finished his question to the Wingleader.

"Less than a month away from Turning twenty-two," the bronzerider admitted. "I'm an old rider, but Loeth's a young dragon."

"So I'd be in a similar position to what you were, then?" he asked, feeling a little less self conscious. "And Velth, too." Once more he warned his lifemate not to think along the same lines as the bronze dragon. "Though not quite, since I ride a brown," he added quickly lest the bronzerider take offence.

"I think the similarities are greater than the differences," the bronzerider suggested. "Being the oldest in the weyrling class is a serious burden - or it felt like it every time the Weyrlingmaster mentioned it when he was having a little 'talk' to me about my failings!"

D'gan laughed, "I find I'm always held up as the one the others should follow the example of, though I wonder at times if they don't have the advantage over me, as my mistakes are more often the ones that are focused on more, as well."

"It's like being an oldest child, I'm afraid. And it won't go away for _Turns_, even in the fighting wings."

"Well I shouldn't hold you up any further Wingleader," D'gan began to apologise, "which level is yours?" he asked, indicating the cliff face before them.

"I'm on the lowest level - on the cliffs above the sea, outside the Bowl. Tricky up-drafts if you're not familiar with them. I think -," he paused and bespoke his dragon, "- Loeth will cooperate enough to show Velth exactly where."

}:I have sighted the ledge:{ Velth said quickly, and without much warning he pushed off from the ground, powerful strokes despite his youth.

**A little more warning would be nice.** D'gan cautioned, apologising over his shoulder to the Wingleader. Velth climbed higher giving both riders a view of the Weyr before winging seawards.

"Incredible place!" K'hetah called against the wind noise from wings and forward movement. "A beautiful place to have Impressed."

"Certainly was, and I wasn't looking forward to leaving." D'gan called back over his shoulder.

K'hetah winced as the ledge of his weyr got closer, unable to prevent himself tightening his legs against the brown's neck as they raced toward the cliff at an angle Loeth would never have used. Whether it was a difference in size or experience, flying on the weyrling brown dragon was more unnerving that the Wingleader had expected.

}:I won't let him fall:{ Velth sounded a little upset in D'gan's mind, as they neared the ledge and the brown slowly backwinged to land.

**I know you won't and I'm sure he knows it too, but I suspect he's just not used to riding another dragon.** D'gan tried to reassure his lifemate, patting his shoulder in comfort.

"Well Wingleader, I hope you weren't too unnerved by riding a different dragon?" he asked cautiously.

"Velth did a magnificent job," the bronzerider said as he dismounted, knowing that appeasement was required. The young dragon could not have helped but know his passenger had been uneasy during the landing and really there had been nothing to complain about. "But I am very out of practise at being a passenger. Please thank him, for me, D'gan."

"He says you are welcome any time, Wingleader." D'gan replied, giving a small salute of farewell.

K'hetah acknowledged the salute and headed into the dragon weyr - well out of the way of young wings.

Last updated on the January 1st 2008

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