Prey Drive (2/2)

Writers: Aaron, Estelle
Date Posted: 24th July 2018

Characters: R'fal, K'don
Description: R'fal and K'don take a walk after the hunting incident
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 5, day 16 of Turn 9

K'don

"Hey, you two were doing it properly. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine.
I...um, got distracted." R'fal chose not to mention that the distraction
had been a group of girls passing on their way from the Candidate
barracks to the beach. He hoped they hadn't seen the incident as well.
"I should have been paying attention, at least until Marlath learns a
bit of patience."

He wondered if he ought to tell the Weyrlingmaster anyway. K'don did
seem calmer, though...maybe if they got away from the beast pens for a
bit, it would help. "Do you want to go for a walk? I think we could
leave them to their meals, if we don't go far."

K'don knew very well how difficult it was to control an impulsive
dragon. Maciath defied the stereotype of the steady brown at least in
one way – he often did whatever popped into his head first. K'don had
learned quickly that he needed to be the considerate one. He wondered
whether the two of them had been next to each other inside their dam
before she laid them. If that made any difference.

At the suggestion of a walk, he glanced toward Maciath, pondered for a
moment, and then nodded. A walk would likely help. As long as Maciath
did not decide to do anything rash in the interim.

"Okay, let's go along the beach for a bit," R'fal suggested. There
wouldn't be so many people there, and it would be peaceful. For a while,
as they walked, he didn't say anything, giving K'don a chance to collect
himself. Part of his mind was on his link to Marlath to make sure he
didn't try to steal any other dragon's prey, but the young brown seemed
chastened and content to feed quietly.

"I remember once, back home, there was this pack of wild felines that
moved into our area and attacked our flocks. We had to get hunters in to
deal with them, but they still ended up taking some of the lambs and it
wasn't always clean. I was pretty upset about it at the time, even
though the other herders said it was just part of life and the beasts
would be killed for food anyway." He glanced at K'don, not sure if this
story was at all helpful. "I suppose what I mean is...I'm sorry you had
to see that. I know it must have been horrible."

"It's..." K'don sighed. He knew that R'fal was trying to tell him that
he understood how K'don was feeling, but he still winced at another
story of beasts dying cruel deaths. "I know most people don't care. But
they never spent much time getting to know the beasts. I know they're
meant for food," he said, looking straight ahead. "But they're not
just... They shouldn't have to..." He growled again. He did not want to
waste any time getting angry with herdsman over their attitudes when he
would probably never even meet them.

"Let's just talk about something else, OK? How's... everything else?"

"Well, it's good," R'fal said, more than a little relieved to get off
the subject of his dragon's misbehaviour. "Now that we're finally flying
together, Marlath has stopped asking me every day if he's big enough to
fly yet. Of course, now he asks when he'll be allowed to go /between/
and see the Holds and Halls. I think he's heard me talking about them so
much that he's curious...not that I've seen anywhere other than the farm
either. Where do you think you'll go first, with Maciath, when we're
allowed to leave the Weyr?"

K'don, too, was glad for the distraction. He was almost surprised, even,
to see how little he had considered the answer to R'fal's question. He
had never had much of a desire to go anywhere else.

"I never even thought about leaving," he admitted. "Maybe we'd just
start flying and see where we end up. I think Maciath would like the
endurance challenge of it..." And they could easily hop between to get
back without worrying about flying the whole return trip.

"I bet lots of our classmates have places they'd like to go. But I guess
they might not want a kid tagging along."

"You can always come with me if you want," R'fal offered. "If it's
allowed." He wasn't sure if the rules would be different for younger
riders. "But the first place I'm going to go is home, to see my family.
It might not be very interesting, unless you like cotholds and ovines!
My Ma's a good cook, though."

"I love ovines! And food," said K'don cheerfully. It seemed that he was
finally well enough distracted from Maciath's boorishness to resume his
usual happy attitude. "I'd love to visit," he said. He had no other
destination in mind, so a happy home with good food seemed as good or
better a place to see than most.

"Great! I'll write to my parents and ask them if I can bring a guest."
R'fal was pleased with how calmly he could talk about writing a letter,
which would have been impossibly daunting just a few months ago. "Of
course, it might be a while yet before we're allowed to leave, and we
have to learn to go /between/ first." That was a sobering thought. He'd
heard some of the senior weyrlings talking about how, sometimes, a
weyrling pair would disappear forever. R'fal couldn't quite believe it
would happen to him and Marlath, but still...he wondered.

K'don had yet to become overly concerned about between. After all,
practically his whole family had done it without any ill effect, and
K'don was not terribly familiar with the concept of survivorship bias.
Instead, he was simply excited about the prospect of staying over with a
friend. He had never really done anything like that. His friends had
pretty much always lived in the same spaces as he.

"We have to wait for everything else," he said. "What's one more thing?"
He was not looking forward to trying to keep Maciath back from trying to
join the wings every Fall until the leaders decided K'don was old
enough. After his failure to hold him back from a messy kill, it was
likely going to take a lot of will power.

Panitath will probably help, K'don thought to himself. It was important
enough.

"True enough." R'fal reached out for his lifemate's mind. Marlath had
finished eating and now he'd satisfied his hunger, his thoughts were
drowsy and contented, the earlier incident with Maciath forgotten. "We'd
better go and bathe the dragons soon, or we'll be late for class. Do you
think you'll be all right to go back? We could meet them at the far side
of the lake." He thought it best to stay clear of the beast pens for now.

K'don blushed despite his effort not to show any embarrassment. He knew
R'fal was trying to avoid setting K'don off again, but that only made
him feel even more like a little kid who could not handle himself or his
feelings.

"I'll be fine, thanks," he said, turning his eyes to the ground for a
moment. R'fal was a good friend. K'don just wished he had not let his
emotions get the better of him where R'fal could see. "Let's head that way."

**Did you hear? We're going to have a bath. Meet me at the far side of
the lake, please.**

}:I will see you there,:{ Maciath answered softly.

As they turned back in the direction of the Weyr, R'fal made the same
request of Marlath, visualising the place where they'd meet. **And be
nice to Maciath when you get there. Don't go splashing him, or anything
like that. You've got into enough trouble already this morning.**

}:But it's fun,:{ Marlath protested. }:Maciath is my friend. He will not
mind.:{

R'fal rolled his eyes. Sometimes Marlath reminded him of his little
brother. **You're getting a bit big for that. One day you'll splash one
of the queens by accident, and then where will you be?**

He glanced at K'don. "I think we'd better hurry back before Marlath
starts soaking innocent bystanders. Want to run?"

K'don had never been the biggest fan of running. But I'm this case, it
seemed prudent to make an exception.

"You're probably right. Might as well," he said, picking up to a
trotting pace beside R'fal.

"Okay!" R'fal sped up to an easy jog along the beach, back toward the
Weyr. As they came within sight of the lake, he saw two young brown
dragons gliding down to the water to meet them, and increased his pace,
grinning in delight. There might be unexpected challenges, but nothing
could match the sense of pride when he saw his dragon in flight.

Last updated on the August 26th 2018

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Prey Drive (2/2)