Remember Your Roots

Writers: Aaron, Corrin, Duskdog
Date Posted: 24th June 2025

Characters: N'dhavi, M'kadja, R'bharra
Description: Naldhavi and Akadja put their plan to get Searched in motion
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 5, day 21 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: Mesarian, I'serin, G'zan

N'dhavi

M'kadja

Naldhavi was sure he had it all figured out. Maybe the guy could be convinced, or bribed, or maybe he couldn't. But at least they knew he wasn't opposed to handing a Search token over to some holdless bums on principle (unlike _some_ people at the Weyr, apparently), so that was a start. A bit more observation and practice with talking to riders (and watching this particular rider) gave Naldhavi a renewed confidence in his ability to get what he wanted with this one -- or at least avoid a repeat of his disastrous encounter with Sybana and M'kayre.

"Trust me," he murmured to Akadja, as they approached the rider and his dragon up by the lake.

"Rider, sir!" he called to the man he had learned was R'bharra, waving. "Can we lend you a hand bathing your beautiful girl, there?"

Reveroth did her excited little dance, and R'bharra smiled. It was easy enough for him to guess that these kids were from the group they had rescued. He had hoped Mesarian would tell them.

"You can just call me R'bharra," he said. "And this is Reveroth. We would welcome your help."

"I'm Naldhavi, and this is my brother, Akadja," Naldhavi introduced. "It's nice to meet you both."

Privately, it felt a little strange to speak about the dragon as if it were a person, let alone speak _to_ a dragon as if it were. But, well... that _is_ what the stories said, right? They were intelligent, spoke just like people, just... in your head. And, more importantly, that's how the riders saw it. Naldhavi had learned and revised his tactics: the way to a rider's heart was through his dragon.

"We've never actually done this before," he admitted. "I hope you'll be patient with us, Reveroth."

"She likes you already," said R'bharra. Maybe she could smell the same wildness on them she had on him when she first hatched. "You could spend the whole time just climbing on her, and she'd be satisfied. But don't worry. It's not hard. You can't hurt her."

Reveroth took turns sniffing them both and gently booping them with her snoot.

Akadja tensed as the dragon sniffed him. He was used to animals, sure--canines, herdbeasts, wherries--but this was entirely different. Reveroth could probably crush him without even trying, nevermind her teeth and talons. The sheer size was daunting and unlike anything he'd experienced outside the Weyr.

Still, he forced himself to relax. The rider didn’t seem worried, and Naldhavi was putting on his best cooperative face. Akadja could play along-- he’d done far worse for far less.

“Well, she’s certainly friendlier than some folk around here,” he drawled with a crooked smile, keeping his voice light as the green nosed at his chest. Carefully, he reached up to stroke her snout, moving slow enough to let her get used to his touch. His own firelizard liked being scratched there, surely a dragon might be the same? "Hello, pretty girl."

Reveroth's eyes whirled a rapturous indigo even as she closed them, and she rumbled her pleasure as Akadja gave her scritchies.

"The folk around here are fucking backward." R'barra grumbled. "I thought they were different. But they're really not. The dragons, though. They're different. At least... I need to believe they are. Reveroth is."

Naldhavi couldn't quite keep his eyebrows from raising in surprise -- though to be fair some of that surprise was from how warm Reveroth's hide was under his palm. He hadn't gone out of his way to touch the dragon who had ferried them in any more than he had to, and he had been cold and wet and distracted at the time, anyway. Touching one now, only because he wanted to, was different. "I... didn't expect a dragonrider to feel that way. Are you not weyrbred?"

"I got no idea who bred me." R'bharra shrugged. "I was a foundling. And my dads were Holdless."

"Really?" Naldhavi _definitely_ couldn't hide his surprise at that. "I was given the impression that... Impression... was something off-limits to us dirty beggars." He scowled, partially for effect and partially because, well, it reflected how he actually felt.

"They made the mistake of letting their guard down before the Pass, and now there's enough of us dirty beggars already on dragons to keep a foot in the door," said R'bharra.

"The new goldrider -- and the Weyrsecond -- don't seem too pleased with that. At least that's how _my_ conversation with them went. They ever give you any trouble?"

"I don't think I've ever said two words to them," said R'bharra. "It'll be Saibra who's ultimately in charge of you, while you're a Candidate. But the wings are under the Weyrleader, and well. He could be someone else soon enough."

Akadja gave a snort of amusement, lips curving into a crooked half-smile. “Now that’s a story I wouldn’t mind hearing,” he said. “Holdless, a foundling, and you still ended up on a dragon’s back. That’s worthy of a Harper ballad.”

Spotting the greenrider's bathing supplies, Akadja left Reveroth's side to root through the pail with the easy confidence of someone who made himself useful often enough to avoid getting thrown out of places.

“So tell us, R’bharra…” he said, taking a brush and tossing another to his brother. “How does that happen? One day you’re a nobody, and the next, a dragon sets eyes on you and whisks you away to the weyr? What do they see? What do they look for?”

"They like what they like," said R'bharra. "But when it comes to Searches, they're looking for that little spark of suitability that the Hatchlings are after on the Sands. Only dragons can see it-- but most of them grow out of it after they find their own rider. Reveroth is one of the special few who can still sense it."

Naldhavi set to scrubbing, trying to take his cues from Reveroth's movements as to whether he was hitting the right spots in the right way or not. Sure, it all needed washing, but may as well make her happy while doing it. "And she saw that spark in Mesarian? He's... a friend of ours."

R'bharra chuckled.

"I heard that little hitch-- he charged you for my name, didn't he?"

Reveroth rumbled happily at the attention from the young men.

}:I like them, too. Give them tokens.:{

**Let 'em stew for a minute.**

Akadja was trying to 'spark', whatever the fuck that meant. He diligently scrubbed the green's shoulder, but really he was trying to catch her whirling gaze, trying to _project_ likeability and strength. "He _tried_ to charge us," Akadja said with a satisfied smirk. "_We_ didn't pay in the end."

Naldhavi wasn't going to mention that Mesarian had also claimed to sleep with the man. He didn't doubt it, but it _would_ have been funny if R'bharra had denied it. He supposed dragons probably liked people who scrubbed them and made them feel good. They were supposed to be as intelligent as people, weren't they? And becoming likeable to people was usually just a matter of making yourself be what they wanted you to be -- whether they consciously realized what they wanted or not.

"Someone else paid him because she was tired of us haggling about it." He couldn't keep the pride from his voice. He hadn't actually _done_ anything to wheedle that out of her, true -- but the less effort expended, the more successful the con. Apparently that extended to things he shouldn't even be taking credit for. "I can't be mad at him, I guess -- it's what I would have done."

"Reveroth took a liking to him right away. Said he reminded her of me," said R'bharra. He supposed he might have ended up a lot like Mesarian had, if it had not been for being Searched.

"I guess that's about the highest compliment a dragon can pay someone, isn't it?" Naldhavi speculated. Dragons really only cared about their riders, right? And, apparently, people they Searched.

"Just about," R'bharra agreed.

Reveroth did not like this stringing of the poor lads along just to make sure they finished helping to wash her.

}:You already told them I like them! Give, give!:{

**Keep your harness on.**

}:You took it off to bathe me!:{

**It's just an expression, love.**

As soon as the lads were close enough in front of her, she gave each of them careful nuzzles. She did not want to turn and risk knocking them over.

Naldhavi stood still, not sure what to make of the gesture. It was a lot like the little nuzzles Lurk gave him sometimes, which... well, it made sense, since dragons and firelizards were clearly some sort of kin. But there was something oddly human about it, too. A clear _intent_.

"...I like you, too," he said after a moment, scratching behind her eye ridge. That's what the gesture had meant, right? That she liked him? Clearly his plan was working, then... but saying that he liked her too wasn't _entirely_ a lie. She seemed nice enough, she was soft, and there was something about being gently nuzzled by a beast large enough to literally bite his head off that was just endearing.

Akadja accepted the nuzzling in turn, standing still as the warm breath gusted over his chest. He'd never been good at just letting things happen, but this-- this was important. He needed her attention, her approval. This seemed like it might be it, or like it could _look_ like it at least.

"Does she do this to everyone she meets or...?" He called out to R'bharra, hoping to draw his attention to the moment-- and gambling that the dragon wasn't just an indiscriminate cuddlebug.

He didn't let the question hang in the air long. His grin took on a playful edge, sharp with irony. "Only asking because I'd _hate_ to get the wrong idea and start dreaming above my station. You know how we beggar boys are." He laughed, and his hand on Reveroth was gentle, but his eyes were hungry.

R'bharra chuckled. He supposed he had let them stew enough.

"No, she doesn't. She wants me to give you tokens, too, if you want them. But since our dear leader doesn't trust us, he's changed the rules since we searched Mesarian, and I have to get a second opinion before I can. Don't worry, though. I know a guy."

Akadja’s heart leapt against his ribs and he grinned ear to ear as he exchanged a look with his brother. It worked! They were in. And without any bribery either. Maybe the dragon really did see something in them, or maybe R'bharra was throwing them a bone, holdless to holdless. Whatever it was, they'd take it.

Naldhavi couldn't help the sheer delight that bloomed on his face. His plan had worked -- or maybe the dragon just honestly liked them, which was also perfectly fine -- _and_ the man was a true Holdless, indeed. "Of course you 'know a guy'! You've been one of us! I wouldn't expect anything less." He stroked Reveroth's nose. "I appreciate the vote of confidence, pretty girl, from you _and_ your rider. Especially since it sounds like the Weyrleader is as much against us as the Weyrsecond and the little goldrider. I don't know why I bothered hoping for anything different. We all know better than that. But..." and his expression, which had soured at the mention of the prejudice, shifted into a sly smile, "we Holdless also know how to get what we want, anyway. I'm glad you haven't forgotten your roots, R'bharra. Maybe there will be more riders of our ilk around soon."

R'bharra grinned. He would never forget where he came from. And Reveroth would never choose anyone who did not have it in them to be a good dragonrider.

"I look forward to it."

Last updated on the July 15th 2025

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