First day as a Rider

Writers: Stasha
Date Posted: 8th January 2008

Characters: M'delon
Description: M'delon wakes up as his first day as a weyrling, and meets all his other friends who have Impressed
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 7, day 12 of Turn 4

It was a cold morning, as Madelon curled under the thick warm furs of his bed. The pillow was soft, and the springs of the mattress fit perfectly with the groves of his body. He recalled his dream of Impressing- But wait! Did it really happen? He felt different, connected, infused, emotionally, and mentally. And then there was the pressure of something sleeping by, and partially on, his legs. He was afraid at first, afraid that it all really was a dream, and that Valinth was nothing more than a memory, but...

There was _his_ brown resting peacefully with a wing and a forearm draped over _M'delon's_ calf, while his narrow narrow head rested on his thigh. He seemed a little too big for the bed, though, so his tail hung over the side.

"Valinth?" would the brown respond.

}:Yes?:{ Valinth's eyes opened into slits, while the inner eye lids closed back. }:I am still here:{ He knew why he asked, M'delon realized with amazement, and could also sense Valinth's perplexity of why M'delon even had to ask. He should know better.

"Why aren't you sleeping on your bed?" He continued as his brown yawned with purpose before licking his muzzle.

}:Because I didn't want too:{ "Well," there was no harm in that, he was only the size of a large canine, but he would get bigger. "Just this one time," M'delon attempted to be firmer. Last thing he needed was for the brown to break his bed."

}:Fine:{ He stretched out, his wings spreading across the bed, before he scrambled off, nearly tripping over himself.

"Careful," M'delon cautioned as he sat at the end of his bed.

Valinth cleaned between his toes before he turned his eyes up at M'delon. }:I'm hungry:{ "Well, then lets go feed you." M'delon was able to find his clothing, and the dagger that his father had given to him the other day. He sheathed the impressive blade after a quick glance and then led his beast out of the barracks.

Feeding was harder than M'delon initially thought. But after he cut a few chunks out for his beast's bowl, he started to get the hang of it. Valinth ate the meat swiftly, but did not ask for more. Instead, he wanted a bath. Which was understandable.

Out at the winter lakes he saw there were other weyrlings that were making their way to the lake too. He quickly spotted Raset with his brown and Nicalos with a small green, but Enrad was not there. Did he not Impress?

Jasimo was also there, to his bitter surprise...cleaning a green? Enrad wanted to laugh, but was afraid too. As he walked passed, Jasimo quickly paused in his cleaning and stepped to M'delon. "So is this your brown?" the bully asked.

M'delon did not feel like being bothered today, but there was something in his tone that had drastically changed. "Yes, this is Valinth." He motioned to the brown who's eyes whirled curiously at Jasimo.

}:He's not so bad:{ "Hi Valinth, this is Uminath," he motioned with his heart caught in his throat to the green that stepped out of the water.

Was that a tear? M'delon was as shocked as everyone else that was watching. This was not the same person who use to terrorize all the other candidates that were younger or smaller than him. The same person who once made Samira cry, and Nicalos. The same person who frightened any other candidate from glancing at a bronze other than himself. The same person who attempted on multiple occasions to hurt he and Enrad.

}:He won't hurt you now. He has Uminath now:{ Jasimo looked back at M'delon. "I'm happy that you Impressed, M'delon."

"Oh, well, thank you," this felt so odd! Like a situation that you only saw harpers reenact!

"And can you believe it, they call me J'simo now," a tear finally did stream from his eye. "And, after I Impressed Uminath I realized everything I did, and why I stood for so long, it was because I was afraid..." he voice tightened "Afraid of Impressing a beautiful green like her."

**Why is he confiding all of this to me?** M'delon seemed a little confused. But what was stranger was that most of the weyrlings were watching the event of J'simo's expression of change.

}:Uminath says he needed to get it out. She suggested you. But you were a random choice:{ Valinth answered his inward thought.

"And now, I just wanted to say I'm sorry, sorry for everything I did," He embraced M'delon quickly, hugging him tightly. "I'm sorry."

The feeling of being hugged by a man that was twice as big as M'delon was too much. But what was he supposed to do? All he could do was pat the bigger man on back. "It's okay Jas- J'simo."

He let M'delon go with a grin on his face. "I'm sorry, sorry to everyone," he announced to the rest of the weyrlings. "And for everything I did."

Some of the weyrlings gave an encouraging cheer, while others laughed amongst themselves. J'simo gave M'delon a final pat before letting him go.

"That was hilarious!" Raset admitted with a lowered tone.

"I never thought I'd see the day," Nicalos added as he continued to scrub the small green. She looked over to Valinth as he entered the warm waters.

}:Yes, it does feel nice:{ Valinth spoke, answering an unheard voice. M'delon was about to ask but Valinth quickly replied }:Baseneth was asking about my opinion of the water:{ "Oh." Well, okay.

"So what are they calling you now?" Raset questioned. as he scrubbed his own brown, who's hide was a much darker brown than Valinth's, like the dark bark of a tree, but his under belly had lighter tones of brown.

"M'delon," he replied with a grin. He still could not believe it. "What about you two?"

"N'los," he patted a free hand on his chest before going back to tending to his green.

"Their calling me R'set, and this," he motioned to his brown "Is Sabianth."

"Yeah, I didn't see you two Impress," he was too busy feeding Valinth after he Impressed. "But, Enrad didn't Impress, did he?" He already knew the answer.

"No," R'set shook his head. "He was left standing again.

Poor Enrad. He had been rejected twice now, but that was normal sometimes. After all, it took J'simo several turns to Impress, and then of course there would be another clutch soon. Onnyth would rise anytime now, and then there was Riyanth, who might rise again within the turn. There was at least one more clutches for this turn.

"I saw Animus, or should I say A'mus, Impress," R'set continued, attempting to break the silence. "He Impressed a bronze too."

He was happy for A'mus to finally Impress, and a bronze! Not that he would dare wish for Valinth to be any other color. He was glad he Impressed his life mate. He was as good as any other bronze. He always would be, he thought affectionately as he scrubbed his creamy brown hide.

}:You could not Impress anyone else but me:{ Valinth responded proudly.

"I see that Chemalis Impressed too," M'delon motioned to the new rider cleaning his blue.

"So did M'yex," N'los responded.

"Yeah, I saw that. He Impressed right after you. That green went right for him, even though Nasiria was right there. I can't understand for the life of me why." R'set sighed before finishing the last of Sabianth's hide.

"There's Trealeina, and she Impressed that green too," M'delon thought the green looked very pretty.

"C'sar, as their calling him now, Impressed a brown," N'los motioned to the pair. "It feels like everyone I know Impressed a brown."

"Not everyone," R'set laughed. His eyes glanced back at J'simo, "I still can't believe he did that!"

M'delon shook his head, as he scrubbed the dirt in the cress in Valinth's knee. "I can't believe it either. I mean, I've heard of Impressions changing people, but like that?"

"Not everyone changes when they Impress," N'los added. "Hey, J'simo might snap out of it. I give him a month."

They paused thinking it over, before R'set and M'delon nodded agreement. "Yeah," they both spoke.

"You're probably right," M'delon added.

"Hey, let's get these guys oiled," R'set motioned.

N'los coughed for a correction. "_She_ would like that too."

They both laughed. "Come on N'los," M'delon motioned.

After they oiled their beasts, they began to make their way back to the barracks. M'delon took one more glance over his shoulder as the weyrlings bathed and oiled their dragons. They were all going to be a part of each other's lives now. It was no longer going to be just he N'los and R'set, but it would be everyone else too. Everyone one else like J'simo, and C'sar, or Trealeina, L'rew, M'yex, Ch'lis, A'mus, D'jun! Who else Impressed? There were so many weyrlings standing there, and the whole time he was still trying to comprehend that he was one of them now.

}:Of course you are. You have me now:{ Valinth reminded him.

Last updated on the January 12th 2008

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First day as a Rider