Off the Chart

Writers: Devin, Eimi
Date Posted: 24th March 2006

Characters: Gilsha, N'vanik
Description: Gilsha and N'vanik nearly run into each other during drills.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 11, day 13 of Turn 3

N'vanik

Shards and shells, but it felt good to be back. Although it had only been a month, it had seemed like forever. Plenty of thoughts wanted to invade N'vanik's head but he pushed them aside and concentrated on the drill. He had to prove that he hadn't lost his edge during his grounding. Taking his rider's direction, Loseth banked to the left. A green dipped just in front of him, nearly touching the bronze's nose.
N'vanik let out a string of curses and tried to identify who had cut him off. "Sharding bronzerider! He's gonna get someone killed if he doesn't figure out where he's supposed to be," Gilsha muttered into the wind. She had heard that particular rider had been suspended and was just coming back into the wing. "Maybe they should have assigned him the _weyrlings_ wing..."

With an effort, N'vanik calmed himself and finished the rest of the drill. He waited until they were dismissed before marching over to the green's rider. Loseth told him to let it go, but he ignored his dragon's pleas. "What the shell was that?"

"That was called a 'drill', bronzerider. Perhaps you remember those? I seem to recall hearing you haven't seen one for a while. It showed,"
Gilsha said sweetly, completely unphased by N'vanik's obvious anger. After all, he was the sharding idiot who didn't know where he was supposed to be.

"Oh, and I'm sure you knew exactly what you were doing since you've been in the wing for _such_ a long time." N'vanik tried to keep his voice quiet. Yelling at a wingmate his first day back was probably not a good idea. "Just what do they teach you up North?"

"How to fly Thread effectively, and not to lose our temper," she said chiddingly. _This_ was why she hated being back in the Weyrs. Sharding riders who think they know everything!

"Did they also teach you how to cut people off?" he asked.

She nodded. "Only the ones who were not where they belonged."

"I _was_ where I belonged," he insisted. "_You_ were not."

Gilsha chuckled softly. "Bronzeriders. You just can't stand being wrong, can you."

"I am not wrong. You cut me off," N'vanik dug in the pocket of his jacket and pulled out his formation charts. Unfolding them, he paged through until he found the formation they had been doing. He pointed to a mark on the hide. "See, you were supposed to be here, and I . . .
shards!" he swore, realizing he had been out of place. Not by much, but enough.

}:I told you to let it go,:{ Loseth commented.

"Uh huh. I see," she said as she looked to where his finger was pointing. "I see this is where you apologize."

He was going to be studying the charts again tonight, that was for sure.
"No. You were wrong too."

"Shards, you bronzeriders and your egos." She laughed outright this time, shaking her head with total amusement as she walked over to scratch one of Palialohath's many itches. "You really think you impress _anyone_ but yourself?"

N'vanik snorted. "I'm not trying to impress you."

"Well, that is good to hear," Gilsha said, still smiling, "because if you were you would be failing miserably."

"You must have a high opinion of yourself if you think I'd want to impress you." The bronzerider smiled slightly.

"Why, yes, yes I do," Gilsha nodded, not taking it as any censure. There was no reason to deny it.

N'vanik laughed. "Bronzeriders aren't the only ones with egos."

"No, of course not," Gilsha nodded. "They're just the ones with the most over-inflated and usually least deserved ones."

"And you assume I'm one of those 'usual' ones?"

"The more you talk, the more common you sound, so, yes."

A response was on the tip of his tongue, but what good would it do?
Sighing, N'vanik squinted up at the clear sky. The bright, warm sun shone down, making the weather seem almost nice for once. He turned back toward the greenrider. "Look, I've had a really bad month. It's my first day back, and I could spend it going round and round with you but I'd rather not. So, how about we start over? I'm N'vanik, and my dragon is Loseth."

She looked at him a moment trying to decide if she should trust this sudden change of heart or not. "I'm Gilsha and this beauty is Palialohath."

"Alright then, Gilsha," he said. "I made a mistake in drills, a mistake which I will not repeat. I hope you can say the same."

Her eyebrows arched slightly. He was a persistent little whiner, wasn't he! "I have every confidence that you won't, N'vanik," she said smiling sweetly before swinging up onto Palialohath's neck. "Have a good evening, bronzerider."

N'vanik shook his head. Stuck up little . . . she'd better not mess up again.

Last updated on the March 24th 2006

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