Sprouts of Spite

Writers: Duskdog
Date Posted: 11th September 2025

Characters: N'dhavi, T'lonas
Description: Naldhavi presents himself for candidacy, and maybe kind-of sort-of tattles on Sybana
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 6, day 26 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: Akadja, Sybana, M’kayre
Takes place directly after “There’s a New World For the Winning”

N'dhavi

T'lonas

Naldhavi leaned against the stone wall outside the Weyrlingmaster’s office, idly flipping his Search token into the air and catching it over and over again. He’d used the first few minutes while waiting for his brother snooping around, peeking into the other nearby office, into the classrooms, into the Candidate Barracks. He’d only really caught the attention of one person, who looked at him curiously, and he’d given his best sheepish smile and half-shrug as if to say “whoops, sorry, wrong room” and then ducked back out again. Then he’d settled back here to wait, patiently impatient, dying to know how things were going inside.

When Akadja emerged and flashed him a thumb’s up and jerked his head back towards the door in a gesture for him to go ahead, Naldhavi couldn’t quite bite back a grin, clapping his brother on the shoulder as they passed one another.

“Ah, you must be Naldhavi!” T’lonas greeted, when he’d barely stuck his head in the door. “Your brother mentioned you were right outside. Come on in, take a seat, get comfortable!”

Naldhavi busied himself doing just that, not so much because he felt at ease enough to make himself at home, but because he needed the moment to gather himself and decide what face he wanted to put on here. He’d observed T’lonas in the Dining Hall, but had assumed the man was also someone who wore different faces; surely the man who was relaxed and smiling with his companions at dinner wouldn’t interact with his charges in the same way! Unfortunately, it was more difficult to observe him teaching classes -- at least not up close enough to see how that went -- so he was only vaguely aware of what to expect.

Manners were usually a good choice, though. He could start there.

“Good morning, sir. Thank you so much for seeing me and my brother.”

T’lonas smiled warmly. “Of course! I’m often busy, but this _is_ part of my job, after all. You’ve a Search token, yes? No,” he held up a hand, “you can hang onto it -- I’ll need to send you along to the Headwoman to present it to her after we’re done here. Technically candidates are supposed to report to her first, but I didn’t see any harm in speaking with you both since you were already here and would presumably be along soon enough, barring anything unfortunate happening.”

Naldhavi allowed himself to look a bit surprised and worried, hesitant. It wasn’t _entirely_ an act -- the thought of anything barring him from Standing _was_ an unpleasant thought. But it wouldn’t hurt to show a little bit of vulnerability here. Make it known that he’s not a threat…. for now. “Unfortunate, sir? Do you mean being Searched alone might not be enough…?”

“Well, it typically is,” the Weyrlingmaster assured him. “But we _do_ have certain standards, simply because of how serious our duties here are, and how precious every dragon is to the Weyr. We do need to make sure that you’re healthy enough to Stand and eventually fight Thread, that you’re going to be able to follow rules and orders so that you can train well and aren’t a danger to yourself and others one you’re adragonback… that sort of thing.”

Naldhavi nodded, trying to look relieved. “Oh, well, there shouldn’t be any issues there. I’m fit as a herdbeast, sir.” He thumped his chest with one fist. “Couldn’t survive out there if I wasn’t! I’ve done a lot of labor… lifted a lot of boxes, hauled a lot of sacks. Good, honest work.”

“Good, good.” T’lonas scribbled down some notes. “And if I ask about the Caverns, they would say the same? That you’ve been a hard worker, no issues?”

“I should hope so, sir.” He hesitated -- genuinely, this time, because he realized he had an opportunity and had to decide if he wanted to take it. His natural reaction would lend believability to it… best not to let the moment pass him by? “That is, if you’re… I mean, you’ll be asking _staff_, right, sir?”

T’lonas’s eyebrows went up. Then, comprehension dawning, he frowned. “Ah. Your brother mentioned that you’d had an… unpleasant experience with someone at the Weyr?”

Would it be over-the-top to bite his lip here? Naldhavi decided to do it. “I guess you could say that… I wasn’t going to bring it up, but…”

“No, lad, I want to know. It’s important. Maybe it was justified, maybe it wasn’t, but I certainly can’t determine that without hearing both sides fairly!”

“I don’t want to get anyone in trouble. And no offense to you, sir, but I know how it goes. I’m just Holdless -- it’s just my word against someone else’s…” Would the bronzerider, he wondered, be swayed by talk of injustice? Was he the sort who cared -- or _pretended_ to himself that he cared, anyway? Felt better about himself if he thought he could recognize disparity when he saw it, regardless of whether he actually did anything about it or not?

Apparently so.

“You’ve nothing to fear from me,” T’lonas pressed, putting his utensil down and leaning in urgently. “The truth can be sorted out, but only if we hear everything there is to hear. And you wouldn’t be getting anyone into trouble; if someone has behaved badly, they would be getting _themselves_ into trouble. I promise to listen with an impartial ear. Even the best of people can sometimes do or say the wrong thing, and I do try to keep that in mind when it comes to those I know, as well as those I don’t.”

Naldhavi glanced around, as if worried someone might be listening in. “Well… it was the young goldrider, sir. Sybana? I guess I bothered her. Or maybe caught her at a bad time? I’d just been Searched, you see, and I was trying to decide whether I wanted to accept or not -- because I know, sir, that’s it’s a big responsibility -- and I thought I should ask one of the weyrlings. Because who would know better than someone who still remembers being in my shoes, right? And she’s very recognizable, sir, and I’d heard that things are a lot more… well, _fair_, here, and the leadership’s not so unapproachable. So when I saw her in the Dining Hall, I thought I’d give it a shot! I went up to her to introduce myself, and see if she’d have a conversation, and maybe answer some of my questions.”

T’lonas nodded, still frowning. “I see, yes. And the reception was… less than warm?”

Naldhavi sighed heavily. “Yessir. She seemed mostly okay at first, but then when she heard I’d been Searched, it was like I’d spit in her granny’s face or something. She said I wasn’t suited to a life of ‘duty and discipline’... you know, making it clear that she thought I was lawless or something. And that the Searchrider had done wrong to Search me.” That was close enough to the truth that she couldn’t dispute it, he thought. “I’m used to people looking down on me, sir, but I guess I’d thought that the Weyr would be different, you know?” Yes, it wouldn’t hurt to lay a bit of guilt on his Weyr pride. “The way she looked at me… it was so cold and so mean… it chilled me to the bone.” Would it be too much to pretend to be discouraged? He put on his best sad and pensive face. “I… thought that maybe it would be better if I didn’t accept Search after all. If that’s how things were going to be. If there’s one thing you learn when you’re holdless, sir, it’s not to stick around where you’re not wanted.”

T’lonas was appalled. He knew that Sybana had some lingering hang-ups from her upbringing, but he’d been proud at how well she’d adapted so far. If nothing else, she knew how to be tactful, even about things that clearly bothered her. And she was making an active effort to _learn_ -- which was, in his opinion, one of the most admirable traits a person could have. He’d never known her to be cruel, or even particularly _mean_.

It wasn’t like prejudice against the holdless was a purely Hold thing, either, though he’d like to think that it wasn’t nearly so prevalent here, where the dragons -- and not birthright -- decided a man’s merit. Did he have his own misgivings about the Holdless presence at the Weyr? Somewhat. Caution never hurt. But the Weyrleaders had chosen to help, and to support them… and if they thought the Holdless were safe enough to be accepted into the Weyr, then shouldn’t it follow that they’d also be acceptable as candidates so long as they were Searched fair and true?

T’lonas preferred to believe the best in people. And he believed, in his heart, that even though not every rider rose to his full potential, every single person chosen by a dragon _had_ that massive potential. The dragons wouldn’t choose someone who wasn’t a truly good person -- even if that good was buried deep down.

“On behalf of the Weyr, I’m truly sorry that you had that experience,” he said. If he’d been on the other side of the desk, he would have put a hand on Naldhavi’s shoulder. His hand twitched to do just that. “I’ll certainly speak with Sybana. I’ve taught her all these months, and I believe I _know_ her, and I’m inclined to believe that perhaps this was all just a terrible misunderstanding. She really is a lovely young lady. But please know that I take your word very seriously, and I _am_ going to look into this in order to get to the bottom of things.”

He sounded sincere -- like _genuinely, truly_ sincere. Naldhavi wasn’t sure how he felt about that. In his experience, even good intentions rarely came to anything where the Holdless were concerned.

“Thank you, sir,” he said quietly, offering a weak smile, as if he were trying his best to believe. “I don’t want to cause any trouble for her. I hope you’re right… I hope it was just a misunderstanding. I wouldn’t want to start out on a bad foot with anyone, let alone someone important like that.”

He left the Weyrsecond out of the story on purpose. Sybana was still a weyrling, and young, but an accusation against M’kayre might be a bridge too far. No sense poking that particular tunnelsnake nest if he didn’t have to.

T’lonas took it upon himself to take a candy from his dish and hold it out to Naldhavi. “It seems you’ve decided to give it a shot, even with all that?”

“Yessir.” Naldhavi accepted the candy with a little smile, very slightly brighter than the one before, as if actually comforted by the gesture. There was no way he was going to actually eat it, though. “My brother and I talked it over. If the dragons think we’ve got what it takes, then we owe it to them to try!”

Maybe he overdid it. His own attempt at earnestness made him want to throw up.

“Well, I’m glad you did. It’s ultimately up to the dragons, after all. No matter what anyone else says, if a dragon chooses you, then you’re a dragonrider, no matter where you’ve come from. And that’s all there is to it.” T’lonas nodded at the token in Naldhavi’s hand, eyes shining with sincerity. That, too, almost made Naldhavi gag. “Go on, now, take that to Headwoman Oselle so that she can make you official, and with any luck I’ll see you at classes tomorrow!”

Naldhavi stood, clutching his token. “Thank you, sir! I promise you won’t regret it.”

Last updated on the October 3rd 2025

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Sprouts of Spite