Not The Most Pleasant Weather

Writers: Eimi, Kastaka
Date Posted: 20th May 2008

Characters: Vasha, D'cal
Description: Vasha washes D'cal's dragon and discovers a little about his past
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 9, day 19 of Turn 4

The weyrlake looked quite full of riders as Vasha emerged from her lessons. The heavy rain made her wonder whether it mightn't be best just to head down to the dining hall and see if she could pick up any scraps, but instead she headed out across the weyrbowl, looking for someone to help. It wasn't the most pleasant weather to be washing your dragon in, and she was sure someone could do with a hand.

}:The excited one is watching us,:{ Aosorath told his rider as he reared up on his hindlegs so his rider could scrub his belly.

D'cal found that description rather amusing as he looked over his shoulder. "Looking to scrub a blue, Vasha?"

"Oh, hi," said Vasha cheerfully, turning to the rider at the sound of her name. "Sure, I'll lend a hand," she continued, walking over to him and the dragon he was washing. "Scarcely have to be in the lake in this weather, do you?" she commented.

"The rain doesn't itch his scratches nearly as well as a brush and sweetsand, though," he smiled as he handed her one such brush. "Do you remember where his favorite itchy spots are?"

"Just under the forelegs, especially on the right" declared Vasha, wielding her brush appropriately, "and up above the third..." she paused for a moment, brow wrinkled in thought, "...spine-unit-thingy,"
she concluded lamely.

"Neck ridge?" the bluerider asked with a rueful smile. That was one she should have known. "And between the shoulders," he added.

"Oh, yeah," replied Vasha distractedly, glancing up at the dragon's neck and shoulders. They weren't quite as high on Aosorath as some of the other dragons she'd washed, but it was still going to be something of a reach unless the dragon brought them a bit closer, so she carried on scrubbing the areas she'd started with.

"How are your classes going then?" D'cal asked, finding conversation always made the work go faster.

"It's kind of odd, learning dragonhealing and going to candidate classes," admitted Vasha. "You don't really get many dragonhealers who aren't already riders, and lots of the stuff that we're going over in candidate classes is kind of assumed by the people who are teaching me dragonhealing. And growing up here has taught me quite a bit of it anyway."

"Well, many candidates have never heard of these things before. I know I really hadn't before I stood on the Sands." He had come straight from the ruins of Topaz Sea Hold and everything had been new to him then.
It was strange how he could hardly remember that life now.

Vasha rinsed off the sweetsand and switched to another part of the dragon. "Where did you come from, then?" she asked, trying to deflect the conversation onto talking about the rider rather than talking about herself.

"Topaz Sea Hold. I was a shipwright there."

"Hmm, I guess the Weyr doesn't have much opportunity to do shipwrighting, being full of dragons that can carry stuff around and all," replied Vasha thoughtfully, beginning to scrub the next area of the dragon.

"No, not much call for it at all," D'cal signed, feeling a slight twinge of guilt for those riders who actually could continue their craft on a regular basis. He could lend a hand at a shipyard every once in a while, but it wasn't the same. That part of his life, he had to accept, was basically over.

"Um," said Vasha, pausing momentarily while she tried to think of something to cheer the rider up. "But it means you can make other things better, right? Like..." she shied away from any particular example, in case that made the rider even unhappier because he couldn't, "...carpentery things," she finished lamely.

D'cal smiled. That wasn't exactly the path his life had seemed to have taken. "I certainly _could_ do carpentry things, but I think I'm meant to be a rider now." Aosorath blew bubbles in the waves in agreement.

"Does it really take up that much time?" asked Vasha curiously.
"Because, I mean, the journeyman dragonhealers always seem to have enough time to fix firelizards and yell at me to do things. What do riders who don't have a craft do with their time?"

"We find all kinds of things to fill our time." Things Vasha was really too young to know much about. Though in a Weyr, she probably knew more than she ought.

"Right," said Vasha dubiously, recognizing a brush-off when she saw one. "Could you get your dragon to duck his head a bit, please? I can't quite reach up there."

D'cal passed the message along and the blue bowed his head. "What do you do in your free time, then?"

"Wash dragons, mostly," grinned Vasha, starting on the next patch. "I don't get that much free time, what with being an apprentice and a candidate and all, so the time you see me hanging around the weyrlake pouncing on unsuspecting riders and helping them out is basically all the free time I've got, really."

"Why do you like washing dragons so much?" the bluerider asked as he passed more sweet sand up to her.

"I don't know," replied Vasha, saying things as she thought of them.
"Dragons are interesting. Riders are interesting. I like always having something to do. I already know the layout of the Weyr and as far out around it as it's safe to go. I guess I never really thought about it before."

That certainly did sound like she found a way to pass her time, but it didn't sound like much fun to him. "Don't you have any friends you want to hang out with?"

"Not really," replied Vasha, absently. "I mean, I see them in the dining cavern and at classes and in the barracks and basically all the time, you run out of things to say after a while."

"I suppose I can understand that." Although D'cal would still chose the company of friends. Sometimes a friendly silence was even more intimate than a conversation. "Are you almost finished up there?"

"Think so," replied Vasha, rinsing off the last of the sweetsand and handing the brush back to D'cal. "He look clean to you?"

"He looks beautiful to me," D'cal smiled. Of course, Aosorath always looked beautiful to his rider. "Let's get out, dry off and get something to eat, hmmm?"

Vasha looked at D'cal curiously for a moment, not sure whether he's referring to getting his dragon something to eat or suggesting that they both head to the dining caverns.

"What's the matter?" he chuckled, wading towards shore. "Not hungry?"

"Oh, um, yes," said Vasha, hurrying to catch up and trying to smile reassuringly. "I mean, no, um... yes, I'm a bit peckish," she continued, having trouble working out whether 'yes' or 'no' was the correct answer to the question. Her smile slid sideways into a self-deprecating smirk, acknowledging how daft her flusteredness was.

D'cal just chuckled at shook his head at her apparent confusion. "Well, come along then. We'll find something for you to 'peck' at."

Vasha rolled her eyes and tried to shake herself dry as she followed the rider towards the dining caverns.

Last updated on the June 1st 2008

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Not The Most Pleasant Weather