There's a Lot Yet to Learn.

Writers: AJ Kraier, Jane
Date Posted: 8th April 2007

Characters: Swift, P'yke
Description: Swift pays a visit to Dolphin Cove Weyr and meets greenrider P'yke and his little brother.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 3, day 9 of Turn 4

Swift rounded the headland and stopped dead, awed by the scene in front of him. It was clearly Dolphin Cove Weyr; he'd heard enough about it to recognise the more than half-circle cliffs of the old volcano and the beach that the lost portion of the wall had been replaced by. And dragons! Everywhere there were dragons.

After a long look Swift cautiously continued across the sand toward the Weyr.

"Nah, nah, na-na-nah, you can't catch me!" shriked a young, fair-haired boy with delight, as he ran across the sand. His attention was on an older version of himself -- who was more than a dragonlength behind him -- and not on what or who was in his path.

"Teleyn, look out! Ahead of you," shouted the older man.

Thinking it a trick, the boy only flirtively glanced ahead, and then did a wide-eyed double take when he saw there was an old man right in his path.

It was too late for the boy to stop and even Swift's side-step wasn't enough to avoid the collision completely and the pair bumped off each other. "I'm too bony to bounce off," Swift said to the youngster, rubbing his hip. "Are you all right?"

Rubbing his side, Teleyn shyly nodded even as tears were beginning to well in his eyes.

"Are you all right, sir," asked the boy's companion, as he ran up to join them. "We were playing, and he wasn't watching---"

"I'm fine," Swift assured the pair of them. "Do we need to take you to the healers, young man?" he asked the younger of the two, who despite his agreement that he was all right looked like he might have suffered the most in the collision.

"That shouldn't be necessary, sir. I think running into you just surprised my brother," he said, running his hand over Teleyn's side before wrapping a comforting arm around the boy.

"It was that last moment that baffled me," Swift said, smiling at the boy. I was sure until then I could get out of your way. You're very quick - when it should be me that's quick since my name's 'Swift'."

This brought an unbridled giggle from the boy, which his brother quickly tried to rein in. "Pleased to meet you, Swift. I'm P'yke, and this is my brother Teleyn."

"A pleasure to bump into you, Teleyn," Swift said with a wink for the boy. "And to meet you, dragonrider. Greenrider," he added, having learned the significance of the coloured thread in the dragonrider knots.

"Are you a rider too," ask Teleyn.

Swift laughed. "No. I'm a kitchen hand from the Dolphin Hall, but I am very interrested in dragons."

"Me too! There are lots and lots and lots of 'em here," said Teleyn.

"My brother lives with our parents in Emerald Falls. Coming here is a rare treat," added P'yke.

"It's a rare treat for me, too!" Swift exclaimed with a laugh. "I was going to see if I could get a little closer and look some of them over."

"Just don't touch 'em," said Teleyn in all seriousness, "unless you get pa...pa...pa-min-shun" -- he glanced up at his brother for help.

"Permission."

"Pa-mish-shin first."

"Oh, I wouldn't! Quite aside from good manners in asking first, they do have a lot of teeth. The dragons. Not the riders, though I assume they have teeth too."

P'yke laughed. "Most of us do have teeth -- and some of us have a worse bite than our dragons." He winked at Swift. "But if you'd like to get close to one, that's my Wellanth over there next to Bannath,"
he said, pointing to an average looking green dragon lounging beside a bulky pale blue dragon.

"May I - get a little closer? To her? Will he mind?" Swift asked, nodding at the blue and wondering if they were mates. Perhaps the males were territorial.

"You can go as close as you wish," said P'yke, "Bannath probably won't even notice that you are there." He nearly added a 'like dragon, like rider' out of habit, but caught himself.

Swift smiled at the boy and edged closer to the green, his eyes flicking one way and then another trying to take everything in. "Her wings are almost see-through."

"They are deceptively thin," said P'yke. "Those wings of hers can support quite a bit of weight."

"Your weight," Swift said, eyeing the other man. "And firestone."

"And then some," P'yke said. "I sometimes suspect that the only real limit is what she thinks she can carry."

Cocking her head slightly, Wellanth opened her left eye and regarded Swift with idle curiosity.

"Look," the kitchen hand breathed. "Her eyes really do whirl."

"An' the happier they are, the faster it whirls," said Teleyn, thinking nothing of marching right up to the dragons and scritching Wellanth's eyeridge.

"You're a very lucky young man," Swift told him. "To know so much about dragons at your age."

"Maybe someday he'll have one of his own," P'yke said, moving closer to his brother.

"Maybe he will. Would you like that?"

Without hesitation, Teleyn nodded enthusiastically. "I want a gold one 'cause they are the egg layers, and their riders get ta boss everyone else around while doing nothin' themselves. Ain't that right, P'yke?"

The greenrider buried his face in his hand and groaned. "Not quite. I really need to watch what I..." He sighed, uncovered his face, and looked sheepishly at Swift. "My brother still has a lot to learn before he'll ever be ready to Stand for Impression."

Swift struggled to keep from laughing. "Maybe just a few things. But ambition is a wonderful thing." He gave the green a last pat. "I'm afraid I'll have to get going. It's been a pleasure to meet you Teleyn, and P'yke. And especially to meet Wellanth."

Last updated on the April 11th 2007

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