Skilled of Tongue and Hand

Writers: Devin, Estelle
Date Posted: 21st March 2021

Characters: Gienah, K'mai
Description: Gienah meets K'mai and Sebeth, and they share poetic compliments
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 8, day 8 of Turn 10

K'mai

With her chores finished early, Gienah decided to head down to the
winter lake before dinner to see if any of the riders needed help
bathing or oiling their dragons. It had been a favorite task among the
Candidates back at Dolphin Cove and she expected it would be the same
here. Only not outdoors.

There were only a few dragons there when she arrived. Sometimes, after
drills or Fall, it would be packed with hardly a spare dragonlength of
water not filled, but it looked as though these were cleaning up after
sweeps or hunting. Gienah walked along the edge of the water towards a
handsome blue, with bubbles of sweetsand sparkling against his dark
hide. She waved to the rider. "Hi! Do you need any help?"

K'mai turned to find a teenager with Candidate knots. "Sure, I'd love
some help and Sebeth likes the attention." He picked up another brush
and offered it to her. "I'm K'mai, and this big troublemaker is
Sebeth." The girl wasn't familiar, but with the influx of Candidates
that wasn't surprising.

"Hello, K'mai. I'm Gienah." She rolled up her trouser legs and waded
into the water to take the brush. "Hello, Sebeth. I've never heard of a
dragon troublemaker before." Her eyes glittered with amusement. "You
must be special."

The bluerider's eyes briefly unfocused and he laughed. "He says yes,
he _is_ special. Well met, Gienah. Were you recently Searched?" She
did seem rather at ease around Sebeth for a new arrival.

"No, it was more than a Turn ago, but for Dolphin Cove Weyr. I only came
here last month, because my Da found work here. He's a herdsman, been
trying to find a job at a Weyr ever since I was Searched." Gienah set to
work scrubbing Sebeth's hide. "It's lucky for me, with the two clutches
on the Sands, and two Hatchings to stand at."

"Yes, that _is_ lucky. You came at just the right time. Welcome to
Dragonsfall, and I wish you the best of luck in finding a lifemate."

"Thank you." She reached up, carefully cleaning around the dragon's wing
joint. "Were you Searched too, or did you grow up here?"

"I was born at River Bluff." K'mai wondered if mentioning his home
would ever stop hurting. "So I've lived in a Weyr all my life." Sebeth
sent comfort and love across their bond.

"Oh. I'm sorry." Like most people, Gienah had heard what had happened at
River Bluff, and she quietened for a while, concentrating on scrubbing.
"It must have been good, growing up at a Weyr," she said, after a while.
No grandmother or aunties trying to make you behave like a proper young
lady, for a start.

"It was. I'm very glad I was born into this life." He returned his
dragon's affection as he scrubbed Sebeth's dark blue hide.

"I like it here too." She thought for a moment as she bent to rinse the
brush. "No-one here has to pretend to be anything they don't want to be.
Like having to be modest and dutiful and ladylike - I mean, I wasn't and
I got away with it because my Da didn't care about that stuff, but a lot
of girls I knew had to and they were miserable. I wish all places were
like it is here."

"So do I. I know some people seem to be happy with Hold life, but it
just seems so... so... _stifling_." He shuddered.

"Yes. There were some good times, and people I'm glad to have met,"
Gienah said, in fairness to her former life. "But a lot of those were
when Da and I were travelling together, not living in a hold." She began
on the blue's hind legs. "So, what do you like to do here at the Weyr,
K'mai, when you're not flying Thread? Do you have a craft?"

"I've successfully managed to avoid crafting," he said with a laugh.
"I spend time with people. I enjoy parties, going to Gathers, quiet
evenings with a friend or two. Sometimes I get into just a bit of
trouble." He winked as he reached for another handful of sweetsand.

"Oh?" She looked up from her work, instantly curious. "What kind of
trouble?"

"Silly bets with friends, flirting with bronzeriders, that sort of
thing." K'mai was scrubbing a bit slow, but Sebeth was used to his
rider being distracted with conversations and the dragon didn't mind
as long as there were _two_ people cleaning him.

"Oh, I love bets! And dares." Gienah's eyes lit up. Maybe she'd get some
ideas to try out on her fellow Candidates. "What's the last bet you made?"

"Uhhh . . ." K'mai pretended to focus on his scrubbing. Had he made
bets after that one with L'keri? That wasn't something he wanted to
talk to a Candidate about. Oh, yes! "Well, if you haven't been warned
already, be careful who you play dragonpoker with and how much you bet.
Some friends of mine nearly cost me my trousers." He winked. "It
wasn't even strip dragonpoker!"

She giggled. "We usually just bet for tokens back at Dolphin Cove, or
chores, sometimes." It had been easier, since some Candidates had marks
from their family or their craft, while others had none. "I expect you'd
want to hang on to your clothes here, with the weather."

K'mai shuddered dramatically. "The weather was a shock after River
Bluff. Probably even more a shock to you, coming from Dolphin Cove."

"I had no idea it could get this cold." She grimaced. "It does get
warmer when spring comes, right?"

"Somewhat," he said with a sigh. Then he brightened. "But with a
dragon, I can pop over to somewhere warmer whenever I have free time."

"Oh, if I Impress and finish weyrling training, I'll be straight off to
the Dolphin Cove beaches and I won't come back until I've thawed myself
out." Gienah sighed, remembering the baking sand and the warm breezes.
"I can't believe I used to complain about the heat."

"Right? There were sweltering days at River Bluff, and now I miss
them." He missed . . . well, everything about River Bluff.

Gienah gave him a sympathetic look. She'd never really had a proper
home, not one she missed anyway, but she knew how important home was to
most others. "It was kind of beautiful, though, when I flew in, seeing
the Weyr all covered in snow and glittering in the sunlight. Oh, that
would be something fun to do here! Snowball fights. I've heard about
them but I've never been in one."

"Oh yes! We should gather a bunch of Candidates and weyrbrats and have
a big battle." There _were_ some fun aspects to snow.

"The weyrbrats would probably win," she laughed. "They're smaller targets."

K'mai held up a finger. "But they lack strategy."

"There is that." Gienah thought for a moment. "Actually, I'd put my
marks on the dragonriders. It's got to be an advantage if your dragon
keeps watch for people sneaking up on you."

"There's that, too." K'mai grinned. "But win or lose, the important
part is having a good time."

"If it's anything like the water fights we had back at Dolphin Cove,
that's true enough." You couldn't really win those, everyone always
ended up soaking wet and laughing. "Good advice for life, too."

"Right? I mean, me and Sebeth have to save the world from Thread, but
outside of that I try to have as much fun as possible." Afterall, what
were they protecting Pern _for_ if not to give people a chance to find
their happiness?

"I guess saving the world all the time would get tiring after a while,
if you didn't," Gienah had worked her way up the blue dragon's side,
closer to his head.

"Exactly. I miss the good old days before Thread returned."

"It must have been good. I was too little to really remember what it was
like back then." Gienah suddenly paused in her scrubbing, embarrassed.
"Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to say you were old, or anything. You're not.
I mean, you're a bit older than me, but..."

K'mai laughed. "Much as I want to stay young forever, time keeps
moving forward. I'll just stay young at heart, and hopefully I'll
still be handsome when I have gray hair and wrinkles." There were
others considerably older than him who were _very_ attractive.

"I'm sure you will," Gienah said hastily, hoping to make up for her
mistake. "You look really great!" Then she felt a blush heating her
cheeks. "I mean...um. I'll stop talking now."

"Oh, no, please continue to compliment me. I love to hear how handsome
I am. And charming! Don't forget charming."

She put her hand to her mouth, stifling a giggle. "Okay! Um... Oh,
Bluerider K'mai, your charm would lure the firelizards from the sky to
sing your praises and make sweet-scented flowers bloom in your path."

His eyes sparkled. "Oh, you're _good_ at this! Gienah, pretty, Gienah,
in the first blush of your beauty, skilled of tongue and hand." He
nodded toward her hands holding the brush and winked.

The girl's cheeks turned pink and she resumed scrubbing with enthusiasm.
"I guess we'd better praise Sebeth too, or he'll feel left out?" She
thought for a moment. "Magnificent Sebeth, all the Weyr admires your
skill and agility in the air. Thread withers before the white-hot blast
of your flame and the beat of your strong, handsome wings."

The blue turned a huge whirling eye on her and K'mai laughed. "He says
he likes you a lot. Maybe you should consider the harper craft. You've
got the makings of a poet."

She grinned. "It would be a fine thing, to compose ballads in honor of
the dragons of the Weyr. But I can't play a note." She could sing her
teaching ballads, but had always longed to be outdoors in classes back
in the hold, and the harper had always chosen other, better behaved
girls to try the pipe or the gitar.

"Ah, that's a shame. You can still exercise that silver tongue of
yours, though. There's no rule that _only_ harpers can write poetry."

"That's true." Being a girl and having a quick tongue seemed to be
appreciated far more in the Weyr. Her smile turned a little wistful.
"Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll be able to recite poems to my own dragon one day."

"I'll be cheering for you at the Hatching." K'mai smiled. "I'm glad
you made your way to Dragonsfall. You're good company."

Gienah peered at him around Sebeth's foreleg. "Thank you! I'm glad I
came, too." She grinned. "Despite the weather, I think I'm going to like
it here."

Last updated on the July 21st 2021

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Skilled of Tongue and Hand