A Happy New Assistant

Writers: Chelle, Devin
Date Posted: 28th August 2016

Characters: J'kri, R'gelen
Description: R'gelen comes to tell J'kri his good news!
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 7, day 19 of Turn 8
Notes: Mentioned: G'nir, J'darin

It had been awhile since he'd seen the rider that had Searched him. He
hadn't forgotten the bluerider though. So when he came through the
Dining Cavern to find the other rider sitting alone for a minute or
so, he plopped down. "You'll never guess what."

J'kri looked up and smiled to see who it was. "What?"

"I am going to be G'nir's assistant. Like really. Well I mean, not
Weyrlingmaster
Second or anything but....I get to help him while I wait to be a
wingrider. And learn
how to be a bronzerider from the old Weyrleader." The very big look of
awe in his
eyes said he personally thought it was the coolest thing. After all,
he'd started out
a farmboy, then an almost-vintner, now a bronzerider.

"That's great!" J'kri's Weyrlingmaster had been a former Weyrleader
too. He wondered what it was like to go from leading 'Fall to training
weyrlings.

"Yeah it'll be some turns yet before I can be in a wing like you. Still, it
lets me practice my betweens and drills and maneuvers. A good thing,
kinda. What's it like being a wingrider, J'kri?" R'gelen grabbed a roll that
was sitting in a trencher nearby, and took a bite.

"Hm, well..." J'kri tilted his head and considered. "Fighting Thread
is frightening and intense, but I've gotten sort of used to it. Drills
are similar to the weyrling drills near the end of training. You work
with riders who've been flying for turns and it's a huge difference
from flying with your clutchmates. And being in the Weyrleader's wing,
there's a lot of pressure to be the best." Rademerth took that more
seriously than J'kri did. The bluerider was happy as long as they
didn't cause themselves or anyone else to get hurt.

"I don't care if I end up in that wing or not. I just hope I have a good
wingleader wherever I am. I do refueling during threadfall now, but soon
I get to just fly actual fall with the weyrling wing with flaming and everything
for the practice all the time." It wasn't the same but at least it was
something.
"Are the older riders nice? Or do they give you a hard time?"

J'kri shrugged. "There's some teasing and people can be cranky
sometimes, but I get along with them most of the time."

"Ah hm." His memory flashed back to the days when he'd been an
apprentice and the boys had bothered him mercilessly for awhile.
Hopefully the teasing wasn't so bad as that. He didn't think he could
deal with that again. "I just don't want people to think I'm not good
because I'm younger, you know."

"Oh, well. They'll see your performance in drills and once you fly
Fall a few times everyone is treated pretty much the same." Newly
graduated weyrlings got absorbed into the Wing fairly quickly. "And
it's not about age, it's about experience. There could be a
twenty-two-turn-old and he'd be on the same level as you if you were
both coming out of weyrlinghood."

"Oh....well hopefully by the time I get ready I'll have a lot of experience
since it might be some turns." He had been one of the few that had Impressed
quite early on. It had been a life changer. Thankfully, R'gelen hadn't
been Weyrbred
so he didn't have expectations or anything to compare his experience
to. So he was
just happy with his lot and took it as it went.

"You get the benefit of extra training," J'kri agreed. "So what do you
do with your free time now? Are you going back to your craft?"

"Well I don't have so much free time as you'd think. Besides all the
normal dragon things, I have to do the things with G'nir and some of
the weyrlingmasters. And then I have to sweepride and do watch duty
and everything like a wingrider. I get to do transports though if I
want to." That was fun sometimes. It let him fly about Pern which was
always exciting.

"Do you like that?" J'kri asked, picking up on his tone.

"Yeah. You get to meet people and go different places. I like flying."
That was the best part about being a dragonrider for him. As a cotholder,
he had had a very narrow worldview and small opportunity to change his
lot. The opportunity to go to the vintner hall had been huge. Amber Hills
had seemed like so much more then. Now, with all of Pern available to him,
R'gelen was enjoying it.

"That's good." The young bronzerider seemed to be doing well and that
made J'kri happy.

Last updated on the September 1st 2016

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A Happy New Assistant