Maybe Future Classmates

Writers: Aaron, Halyonix
Date Posted: 25th March 2025

Characters: Mirima, Katora
Description: Katora and Mirima talk about being Candidates
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 3, day 7 of Turn 12

Notes:

~*~

Katora's bunkmate was a girl older than her, strong in ways that Katora could recognize from having lived on the road all of her life, but with a body that definitely said 'woman' instead of Katora's childishly lithe form. "Have you been a Candidate long?" Katora asked one morning as they were cleaning up their side of the Barracks.

"Not that long," said Mirima. Nowhere near as long as many of the others, anyway. "Name's Mirima."

"Katora," the other girl answered. "I'm a Trader. I just got here a few days ago. You?"

"We came from the Holds. Been doing a little of everything since, whatever work details the Headwoman needs doing," said Mirima. "You have any grand plans now that you're here?"

Katora shook her head. "Searchrider said that I'd be a good candidate for the gold egg but...truthfully, I'm not really sure I even _want_ to be a dragonrider. I took it because my family thought it was a good idea for me to try. Having a dragonrider in the family would be a boon, they think." She looked at Mirima. "You?"

"My pie in the sky is to be a proper author someday." Mirima grinned. It seemed far away, but it was still her end goal. "But I came here to look after my brothers, you could say." She had not been doing much actual looking after them, but they really did not need her supervision.

Latching on to a familiar subject of siblings, Katora asked, "How many brothers do you have? I have three. But I also have a bunch of cousins that act like brothers. And some sisters. Lots of aunts and uncles."

"Two. Two sisters as well, but they're not trying to get themselves eaten by Thread, so I tend to think they know how to look after themselves." Mirima grinned. "Our mother is here, too."

"Why are your sisters trying to get eaten by Thread?" Katora asked with wide eyes, completely missing the insinuation.

"They're the ones who aren't." Mirima giggled. "My brothers are."

Katora's brow furrowed. She must have misunderstood the context. That happened sometimes. She hated it though because she really didn't like to make mistakes. "Your family sounds as confusing as mine," she said. "So you have two brothers and two sisters? And some of them are dragonriders?"

"Two brothers, both riders. Two sisters, neither riders," Mirima explained. "What about yours?"

Katora shook her head. "I'm the first. That I know of. Our family are Traders. We're never in one place long enough for Searchriders to find us and if we hadn't been at Amber Hills that day, I would have just continued on." And she would have been fine with that, honestly. The Weyr was an overwhelming place so far. She wasn't sure how she would navigate it with a dragon as well. If she Impressed.

"Who knows who we would have become if little things had been different, eh?" Mirima tapped her chin. There might be something there, an interesting hook for a story.

"And even if we don't Impress, it's still an interesting chapter to explore, I think," Katora said. "Well, maybe not for you, having lived here all of your life, but definitely for me. Dragon or not, I can go back to my family and tell them everything that I've learned here." And, if she had time to work out some Weyr connections for Trading, that would been an additional boon for her caravan. "So how many Hatchings have you Stood for?"

"Oh, only a few. We did come from the Holds," said Mirima. "Not that I care to go back there."

"Too cramped," Katora immediately said. "I couldn't imagine living in such crowded places. Not....well, the Weyr can be equally as crowded. And noisier. But it doesn't feel that way. I guess that's because of the dragons. There's always a sense of coming and going. It's a different sort of freedom than I had as a Trader." But it was a recognizable freedom all the same.

"You could say that." It was not the physically close quarters that made the Holds feel restrictive or constrained to Mirima. But it was always nice to have more space, too. "It's nice to feel free."

The other Candidate bobbed her head in agreement. "So, what should I know about Hatchings? Since you've seen one before."

"Well, the main thing is to stay out of the hatchlings' way," said Mirima. "They'll tear you up just trying to get through you, whether they mean to or not. Other than that, it's just don't do anything that would piss the gold off."

"Given the size of her, I wouldn't dare," Katora answered. "Dragons are said not to hurt anyone but she has an impressive size to her head. Which means big teeth." Her hand absently went to the fang that was looped around her own neck, remembering a long ago time with teeth in close quarters. "Do you think it'll be soon? The Hatching."

"It's gotta be sooner or later!" Mirima had not been doing this long enough to really have much of a grasp on how long it was between clutching and hatching. Then again, she was not so preoccupied with the waiting anyway.

"Here's hoping you...well...we both Impress," Katora replied with a hopeful look.

"I'd love to be in your class." Mirima smiled.

"Same."

Last updated on the March 26th 2025

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