Sweet or Sour

Writers: Aaron, Estelle
Date Posted: 24th May 2019

Characters: Gienah, Tirraze
Description: Gienah and Tirraze chat about Candidate life while doing Candidate chores.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 11, day 2 of Turn 9
Notes: Mentioned: A'kades, V'rel

Gienah carried her mop and bucket into the dining cavern with a spring
in her step. Even chores couldn't dampen her good mood. Now that there
were eggs on the Sands once again, she was starting to feel a little
buzz of excitement at each Candidate class when she thought of the
upcoming Hatching. The last time, she'd hardly been in the Weyr a few
days before the eggs were Hatched and had been too new to be anything
but confused. Now, having lived here for months, she was impatient to
try again.

"Hello, Tirraze," she said cheerfully, greeting the other girl on
cleaning duty.

Tirazze blinked and looked up from where she had been scrubbing
diligently. Her hair was tied up in a tight bun atop her head, and a bit
of sweat glistened on her forehead as she went about her work quickly
but thoroughly. She had not been working long, of course, but she had
already dived head first into the chore without waiting for her comrades
to begin. The faster the finished, the faster they could be about
something else. Anything else.

"Oh. Hello, Gienah," she greeted the other girl. "Good day?"

"Yes, thank you." She put down the bucket nearby and began to mop the
floor, taking her cue from Tirraze's hard work. If they finished
quickly, they'd get more free time before they had to be back in the
barracks. "Classes went well today. It's a lot easier the second time
around, now I understand more about life here. But you must have been to
them dozens of times already," she said, remembering that Tirraze was
from the Weyr.

"I don't know about dozens," said Tirraze. "I've only been Standing for
four or five Turns," she added with a bit of a grin, though she kept her
eyes focused on her work.

"Anything giving you trouble?" she wondered.

She thought about that for a moment. "Well, because I'm not from here, I
don't know as much about the history of the Weyr as those who've grown
up with it do. Sometimes it's hard to remember all the names and dates!
But that's just studying. And I've kind of picked up the customs as I
went along. My da and I used to travel around a lot, we got used to
people living differently." She pushed the mop along the floor. "I
suppose the hardest part is knowing how to behave on the Sands. All I
remember about last time is that everything we were told went right out
of my head. I'm afraid I'll do something wrong."

"I get that," said Tirraze. "I'm originally from the south, not here. I
lived at Rising Moons before I came here with my family. So I had to
learn the different history and all that when I got here." She was not
born there, but Tirraze remembered next to nothing of the home she had
before that.

"Knowing what to do on the Sands is pretty simple, really. Just stay out
of the Hatchlings' way unless they talk to you. They won't hurt you if
you're not in between them and the one they want. And even then, they're
not *trying* to hurt you. But you probably remember all that now." She
gave a friendly smile. "It's different when you're there, I know."

"Yes. I hope it'll be less overwhelming, this time." She recalled the
burning of the sands under her bare feet, trying to follow the
jewel-bright hides of the hatchlings as they emerged from their shells.
"I wish I knew what to do, so that they'd _want_ to talk to me. Even if
it was only for a moment, it would be wonderful. But if anyone knew
that, I'm sure they would have told us."

"I don't think there's anything you can do," said Tirraze. "You just
have to be who they want. Some people get it on the first try, and some
get it on their very last chance. It's just a toss of the dice, mostly.
Being in the right place at the right time."

"All we can do is wait and see." Gienah smiled as she went back to rinse
the map. "It's exciting, all the same. So, you've lived in Weyrs your
whole life? Are your family dragonriders?"

"My brother and his father are," said Tirraze, smiling with pride even
as she continued her scrubbing. She was happy to have V'rel and Uncle
A'kades to look up to. "I'll be the first on my father's side. How are
you holding up away from home?" she asked.

"All right. I miss my Da, a lot, but it's really good here for girls.
Back in the holds, they'd take one look at me and hand me a mop or a
scrubbing brush and..." She looked at what she was holding and laughed.
"Well, I'm doing a lot of the same here, but they don't treat you as
though it's all you're good for, you know? And they make the boys do
these chores too. I was thinking that maybe, if I don't Impress at the
next Hatching, I might ask to apprentice to a craft."

"Which are you looking at?" Tirraze wondered. She was not at all
interested in a craft for herself. If a dragon was not in her future,
she would go on working for her mother on the Headwoman's staff. It was
important work, no less important than craft work.

"Well, my Da's a herder. Not a craftsman, like a journeyman, he just
works in the holds, but he taught me a bit about looking after animals
when he could. How to feed and take care of them, how to know if they're
sick, that kind of thing. Some holds, they'd let me help him, others
not. So, maybe I'd do something like that."

She pushed the mop idly across the floor. "Before I was Searched, we
used to plan that when he earned enough, he'd buy a trader wagon and
fill it with goods, and join a caravan. That way, we could still travel
around, but we'd be working for ourselves. Not anyone else. No more
holders skimping on his wages, no more scrubbing and sewing for me all
the time. So, whatever I learn, I'd like it to be something that'd be
useful for that kind of life."

"With dragon wings, you can be anywhere in a few heartbeats. You should
go visit him once you can," said Tirraze. She would have given a lot for
the chance to go visit her own father again. "Maybe you'll find a way to
help him get there."

"I hope so." It was a dilemma - if she Impressed, she'd be able to help
her father, but she wouldn't be able to live that life with him, either.
She'd have a dragon to take care of, and a duty to the Weyr. Perhaps it
was good that that choice would be made for her, one way or another. She
brightened. "He promised to come to the Hatching, so I'll see him then.
And then, there'll be the celebration!" She held out the mop at arm's
length and practised a dance step around it. "I'm going to dance this time."

"Dancing is fun," said Tirraze, smiling cheerfully despite the chores.
Her mind was more or less detached from what her body was doing. "Will
that be the first time you've seen him since you left home? Or was he
able to make the first one, too?" Tirraze was glad the holdfolk were
usually granted rides to the weyr for the occasion. If they were easy
enough to find, anyway.

"He was here at the first one, but he came with the parents of a boy
from the hold we were staying at who got Searched too. He Impressed."
For a moment, Gienah's forehead creased with worry. "I hope they'll send
a dragonrider, even if it's just him this time. I know they have lots of
other people to collect. Lord Holders and Masters and the like..."

"If they can't send anybody else, I bet I could ask for a favor for you.
Can't say they'll definitely say yes, but I could ask my brother or his
dad to see what they can do," said Tirraze. She knew how important it
was to have family there for that moment. She would give a lot to have
her own father back just for that one special day.

"Thank you!" The girl's face broke into a wide smile. Even if her father
did manage to get transport and it wasn't needed, the offer meant a
great deal to her. She thought of all the gossip she'd heard in the
holds about how weyrfolk didn't care about family, and decided that it
was all nonsense. They were different, maybe, but they cared just as
much as she did.

She began to mop the floor again, with more enthusiasm. "So, your
brother and - your uncle, I guess? Are they in the Wings? What colour do
they ride?"

Tirraze smiled proudly. She was glad to hear someone acknowledge a
familial relationship with A'kades. It might not have been anything
official, but she thought of the man as family.

"They are. V'rel, my brother, rides a blue, Rymeth. And my Uncle A'kades
rides a bronze, Volaith. He's a wingsecond," she answered.

Gienah's eyes widened a little. She had heard of A'kades. He wasn't just
any wingsecond, he was the Weyrleader's wingsecond. That must be a lot
to live up to! But she didn't say that; she was sure Tirraze was well
aware of it already.

"Do you see much of them?" she asked. "They must be very busy."

"I see V'rel a lot more than A'kades," Tirraze admitted, and she did
wish she could see more of him. She wondered whether he would think it
odd for her to seek to spend time with him apart from V'rel. Finding
time when they were both free at the same time was hard enough, but
Tirraze also did not want to feel like she was intruding on their time
together when they did find it.

She noticed the widening of Gienah's eyes. But to her, A'kades was
A'kades. Of course, she was always respectful, but she had never thought
him intimidating. She never did remember to consider that others would
only know him by his position and that this would carry weight.

"We make time when we can." Tirraze smiled. It would all have been
easier if her father was still alive. Or so she was sure. It had been a
while since she had dreamed of him last. She missed him very much.

"And their dragons?" Gienah asked. "What are they like?" She hadn't met
as many dragons as some of the weyrbred Candidates, although she'd had
the chance to help bathe them, sometimes. She hadn't dared offer to help
with a bronze yet, though.

"Well, it's hard to get close to a dragon, I think. At least, when they
don't talk to other people. Volaith is very big, of course. And he likes
to wiggle. He always does it, or I'd probably even still think I was
washing him wrong," Tirraze chuckled. "I think he's sweet. He likes it
when you pay attention to him. All dragons do, when you still talk to
them directly instead of to their riders. Well, most do. You probably
can't say 'all dragons' do much. But Volaith seems to like it more than
most. To the point where he might get a little jealous if you're not
paying enough attention to him." Tirraze did not think to consider it
often, but now that Gienah had asked her, she wondered if her own
perception of Volaith's temperament was entirely true or just in her head.

"Rymeth is probably more what most people would call sweet. And he's
very curious. Or, that's what it seems like to me," she said of her
brother's dragon.

Gienah laughed. "It seems funny to think of a dragon as sweet! I never
would have, before I came here." Especially not a Wingsecond's bronze,
she thought. "I didn't know about talking to them directly, either.
Although, we did greet the queen before the last Hatching, when we saw
the eggs, so she must have understood us."

"They don't think exactly like humans," said Tirraze, "that's true. But
they can still be sweet or sour just like us. And I don't know, some
dragons might *not* like it if you talk right to them. They're just as
different between themselves as we are. And they do understand us."

"I'll be careful what I say, then." Gienah wondered what her dragon
might be like, if she was lucky enough to Impress. Would she be sweet or
sour? Friendly or shy? Would she be like her rider, or the opposite? She
sighed and leaned on her mop, lost in her thoughts for a moment or two
about what it would be like to be a dragonrider.

Then, she realised she was daydreaming and hastily resumed her work
before any of the kitchen staff noticed. "Hey, if you want to swap jobs,
you can mop for a bit? You must be getting tired with all that scrubbing."

"It's all the same to me," said Tirraze. "Switching is fine with me if
you want to, or if you'd rather keep mopping, that's fine, too.
Scrubbing does end up giving you fewer blisters, but at this point, I
have a mopping callous." She grinned and offered her scrub cloth to Gienah.

"Either way, it's good to have a change." Gienah exchanged her mop for
the cloth and set to work on the floor, doing her best to concentrate on
the chore rather than letting her mind drift to thoughts of the
Hatching, and the possible dragon that might be waiting in her shell. It
wasn't easy. Talking to Tirraze had given her a lot to think about...

Last updated on the June 15th 2019

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Sweet or Sour