Flight Foreboding (1/2)

Writers: Avery
Date Posted: 10th April 2017

Characters: L'pin, A'vel
Description: A'vel comes to L'pin for advice about flights.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 10, day 2 of Turn 8
Notes: Notes: Part 1 in the "A'vel's First Flight" sequence

The month of Blooding was very stressful for weyrlings and their teachers
alike. They'd already gone and delivered their firestone sacks. No one had
died or been severely scored yet, which was good. He just hoped they'd all
make it through the end of the month to be formally 'tapped in' to join
the wings as full-time wingriders.

Speaking of graduation, that was happening soon. He was still in his
office because he was putting together their progress reports to hand to
the Weyrleader and the Wingleaders. Using those and their own observations
of the class, they could choose among themselves who they would get. He
had his suspicions about where some of them would go, and his
recommendations on the matter, but in the end it wasn't his decision.

L'pin was distracted out of his thoughts when he heard a tapping on the
door. "Come in," he called.

A'vel stepped through the door. "You're not busy? Tsogath said Chaneth
said you were free," he added apologetically.

"I'm not," L'pin confirmed.

"I had a question about Tsogath," he started.

"How is she doing? I saw you two work very hard in today's rope drill,
excellent job turning to get that clump that Thaura missed. She didn't
strain her wing?" L'pin asked. She'd seemed fine at the end of drill, but
sometimes younger dragons were unwilling to admit when they were in
trouble. Especially young ones eager to adventure and please, like
Tsogath.

A'vel smiled at the praise for their skills. "I gave it extra attention
when I oiled her. It doesn't feel warm or swollen but I'll check it
tomorrow."

"Good. If it does pull, you can take the drill off so she's good for the
next Fall," L'pin advised. A'vel was doing well enough that one day off
drill would be fine. There were a few other weyrlings who might feign
injury to have another day off, and who might be adversely affected by the
times they'd skipped practices.

"Thank you, sir. But I think she'll be fine. My question wasn't related to
any injuries," he said.

"Go ahead," L'pin encouraged.

A'vel was quiet for a moment. He laced his fingers together, then unlaced
them, looking down at his hands as though they were the most fascinating
thing he'd ever seen.

L'pin remained quiet, content to let A'vel sort through his thoughts until
he was ready to speak. It was clearly something very important to the
young man. He suspected he knew what was going on, but he was curious how
the green weyrling was going to introduce his topic.

"If they're old enough to graduate, they're old enough to Rise. Right?"
A'vel finally said.

"Yes. For a green dragon, their maiden flight is often in the last month
of weyrlinghood or the first month after graduation. There's a few other
factors that can affect it," he added.

"What are those?" the weyrling asked.

L'pin suspected A'vel wanted to know mostly so that he could delay the
inevitable, but he decided to answer the question as though the former
Harper had asked it just out of his natural curiosity.

"Injury to rider or dragon can prevent it. If a green can't fly, she can't
rise to mate. If her rider is bedbound from score or injury, the dragon
senses that and won't rise. With a female rider, advanced pregnancy or
just after childbirth can throw off the cycle as well. And if the rider is
very young and still undergoing puberty, then she may not until he or she
reaches maturity. They have a sense of these things."

"None of those would currently affect you, I'm afraid," L'pin finished.

A'vel's head drooped even further. It looked like his chin was going to
hit his chest. "Oh, I see."

"Do you think she's close to rising now?" he asked.

"No-oo-o…" A'vel said, dragging it out like he was unsure. "But M'gelt
says that Vonath is going to rise soon."

"She'd be the first in the class to go up," L'pin said. "Have you talked
with him about it?"

"Not on purpose. But he can't stop telling everyone how excited he is for
it," A'vel said, grimacing as he thought about it. He thought that
dragons' mating flights should be more of a _private_ matter - except
maybe for what bronze flew what queen, since that impacted the leadership,
and everyone should know about that - but green flights didn't matter and
were just between the riders and their dragons. And yet here was M'gelt
eagerly commenting on his green's prosiness and oversharing about who he
wanted to win her and what he hoped their attributes were like. It was
repulsive to the former Harper.

"Well, he's allowed to be excited. It's a big moment for them both," L'pin
said. "Besides, his bravado may be partially feigned."

"Yeah?" A'vel asked.

"What if he's nervous about it, and being publicly excited is his way of
seeming totally confident?" L'pin pointed out. "He may be modeling his
behavior on that of confident older greenriders because he doesn't know
how he should be feeling, or possibly even what he is."

A'vel frowned. "Shouldn't he just keep silent then?"

"It sounds like that's how you'd handle it, but maybe talking it over with
others is what makes him feel better," the bluerider said. "He might not
understand how you're dealing with it either."

A'vel lifted his head, opened his mouth - and then paused, hanging it
again until his chin did touch his chest. He said nothing in response.

L'pin felt a stab of empathy for the young man sitting in front of him.
He'd been so afraid of his own burgeoning sexuality at the Hall, afraid of
what his parents would say about it, but he'd found confidence at the
Weyr, where other people spoke about their desires so easily. Impressing
Chaneth had given him the love of his dragon and the confidence that if
his dragon thought he was perfect, he couldn't be broken. He must be
right.

He'd thought Tsogath would do that for A'vel. He'd worried about the boy
immediately after Impression, especially after his family's rejection. But
A'vel had seemed to bounce back from it and be fine. He supposed maybe the
busyness of weyrlinghood had covered up his doubts; he remembered being so
busy learning to care for Chaneth and what to do as a rider that his
dragon's hide color hadn't mattered much except for lessons.

But now that the flight was upon him, it must be weighing on A'vel more.
He couldn't pretend like it wasn't a problem, if that was in fact what he
had been doing. Now that he thought about it, L'pin couldn't remember if
the boy had asked questions in the flight-related lectures. Probably not.

"Are you afraid?"

A'vel didn't speak, but he nodded his head.

Last updated on the April 25th 2017

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Flight Foreboding (1/2)