Meeting a Blue

Writers: Aaron, Devin
Date Posted: 31st March 2019

Characters: Brennault, T'lin
Description: Brennault delivers the last of his letters for the day and then meets a dragon – a favorite pastime.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 7, day 4 of Turn 9
Notes: Mentioned: A'vel, Dessa, R'fal

Brennault

T'lin

Brennault plucked the last of the letters from his bag and strode on
toward the dining hall. As far as he could remember, weyrlings would
be there around this time, so his chances for finding T'lin would be
pretty good. And if he had to, he would ask a dragon to page him.

Perhaps if Brennault could not get a bronze dragon for himself, he
could at least get himself a firelizard to train to track down weyr
denizens. It was a bit harder than finding people who lived on the
ground.

"T'lin!" he called out. That usually got someone's attention, even if
not the right person.

The blue weyrling turned, half-standing from his seat. "Yes?"

"There he is!" Brennault announced and then joined T'lin at his table.
"Special delivery. Well, actually, just an ordinary delivery." He
handed over a letter, and then watched for signs that T'lin remembered
him from R'fal's earlier introduction or otherwise from his hanging
around with other members of his class.

"It's from my parents," T'lin said with a grin, recognizing the
handwriting. "Thank you, um..." He rubbed his head. "Sorry,
weyrlinghood is eating my brain. What was your name again?"

"Brennault," the man introduced himself, offering a hand to shake. "My
pleasure," he said. "And don't worry, I know you guys have a lot in
your bags! Anything else I can get for you?" he asked.

"Have you eaten yet Brennault?"

"I haven't, actually!" Brennault answered. He was almost always
interested in eating with as much as he burned running. So even if he
had, he might have accepted an invitation to eat together anyway. If
this was an invitation.

"Go grab a plate and join me." T'lin wondered if he should save the
letter until later, when he could write a response right away.

"Don't mind if I do!" said Brennault. "Back in a flash," be promised,
and within a few moments, he returned with a heaping plate.

"So, how's training going?" he asked.

"I'm beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel," T'lin said
with a chuckle. "We've been _so_ busy!"

"I hope you have a minute to breathe today," said Brennault. "At least
you've got news from home." He smiled and dug into his food. He tried
to ignore the danger that came along with the end of training and the
beginning of regular service in the wings. He was sure T'lin would not
appreciate his bringing it up if he did.

"What's the latest milestone?" he wondered.

"Well, the biggest one is going /between/, but if you've been talking
to R'fal you know about that already. We're doing serious drills now,
with full formations and /betweening/. And our dragons are learning
how to flame." Drills were more intense, but on the other hand they
had a little more free time. T'lin had been getting back into his
crafting and realized how much he'd missed it.

"I heard between, yes," Brennault said, nodding as he remembered. He
was never sure just how long it was between each major step. "Haven't
singed off your arm hair yet, I hope." He grinned.

"That I could survive. I'm hoping there aren't any mishaps with my
handsome face."

"Hey, scars are sexy," said Brennault with a wink. Maybe not burn
scars so much, but that really was not the point.

A twinkle of interest lit T'lin's eye. "Oh really? Is that why you
wanted to be stationed at the Weyr? All the sexy, scarred
dragonriders?"

"That was without a doubt a major part of that decision," Brennault
laughed. "Scarred or unscarred, I've been very happy with my
assignment so far. Were you happy to be Searched?"

"I wasn't Searched, I petitioned. I moved to Dolphin Cove to Craft
when I was twelve," T'lin said. "It was hard to leave my family, but I
_am_ happy here."

"Oh, I see! Well. After you learn between, you can go back any time,
yeah?" Brennault offered. "I bet if I had managed to finagle this
assignment when I was twelve, I'd have Impressed by now, too," he
said. "If I were any good for it, anyway. I heard a bronze wouldn't
look my way. Not to say there's anything wrong with dragons who aren't
bronze, of course. But lately, I got it in my head that I wanted one.
And well, if one doesn't want me, I think I'll not bother a Searcher
to even find out if I could. It's easier to tell myself that's the
real reason why and not that I'm afraid to fight." He winked.

"Fighting Thread isn't for everyone." T'lin wasn't sure it was for
him, but he was stuck with it now. "And bronze isn't for everyone
either. They choose men who are... a little too limited." Sure, T'lin
had childhood fantasies of riding a bronze dragon. Who didn't? But as
soon as he understood what kinds of people the various colors chose,
he knew bronze was out of the question.

"A limit I certainly don't share," said Brennault, grinning. "I
suppose I should be happy to have my limits over theirs. And I've made
friends with enough dragons to be the next best thing beside riding
one for myself."

"Did you choose to post here so you could have more freedom to ah...
express those wider limits?"

Brennault smiled more warmly than a grin. He wanted to lay his hand on
T'lin's as a comforting gesture, but he kept it to himself for the
time being. He knew A'vel could not be the only one to have found
freedom at the weyr they could never have had at home.

"I come from a pretty limitless family," he said. "Coming to the weyr
was more about opportunity than freedom. There are a few sweethearts
here and there along my old routes who helped me express myself
growing up. And I still see them when I get out to those holds and
stations now and again."

"Ahh." T'lin nodded. "My family's understanding, too. But I wanted to
Craft and we decided the Weyr would be better for me than the
Technician Hall."

Brennault's face lit up, and he smiled from ear to ear.

"A technician!" he said with excitement. "What led you to the Sands?"
he wondered. "Not much time to keep up with a craft like that, is
there? Or do you help keep the lights on here?"

"I did help keep the lights on, among other things, before I
Impressed." It was sad to think he wouldn't have much time to Craft
now, even after weyrlinghood was over. "I couldn't resist the idea of
having a dragon, even if it does mean fighting Thread."

"It must be amazing, more amazing than I could have imagined..."
Brennault breathed, trying to grasp how much deeper that bond could be
than he had dreamed it could be. He tried to imagine himself so much
closer, so much more inexorably intertwined with Tsogath, with
Marlath. Deeper than merely friends. So deep that it would be worth it
to face Thread with fire and fury.

His imagination failed him again.

"Could I meet yours?" he asked. "When you're both not busy."

"Sure!" T'lin smiled. "Calaroth loves people. If we eat quick, I have
a little bit of time before I have to get back to training."

"I am the Lord of Eating Quick," Brennault assured him with a laugh
and then set about scarfing down the remainder of his food.

"Well don't choke!' T'lin laughed before turning to his own lunch.

"Never!" Brennault promised T'lin, holding up a hand.

When they were finished T'lin led Brennault out to the Bowl and asked
Calaroth to come down. The blue was happy to meet a new human that his
rider liked, and Calaroth's eyes whirled with curiosity as he landed.

Brennault had most definitely not yet lost the sense of wonder at
meeting a dragon, and his eyes lit up as Calaroth landed.

"Well, aren't you handsome? Hello!" said the runner to the blue. "I'm
Brennault," he introduced himself. "May I give you scratchies,
Calaroth?"

Calaroth lowered his head so the young man could reach. His eyes
whirled a little faster and he sniffed at Brennault. }:This one
glows.:{

T'lin's eyebrows went up. **Do you mean he glows inside his head, like
a Candidate?** Calaroth seemed to have some Search potential, and that
was the way he'd described people during testing.

}:Yes. I like him.:{

"So Brennault... uhh, have you ever been Searched?"

Brennault cheerfully scratched Calaroth's ridges. He felt that he had
gotten the hang of reading where dragons liked to be scratched. He
turned back to T'lin without ceasing and said,

"Not officially, but I've had a dragon or two say something to their
rider that made them ask me that before," said Brennault. "Not to
sound like a braggart, I hope."

"Not at all. But I think if you ever really wanted to be Searched, you
could just ask. And you could take time to decide if you wanted to
accept or not," T'lin said.

}:I like this one a lot:{ Calaroth crooned softly.

"Thank you," Brennault answered, grinning. He did like having that
option, but he was still a bit uncertain for all the reasons he had
given A'vel. If he was going to be a dragonrider, he wanted to be a
leader. Wingleader, weyrleader, even. But the dragons who got those
positions for their riders? Well, they did not want Brennault. Putting
that on top of all the risk of fire and death? Brennault would likely
have to pursue his ambition elsewhere.

"Calaroth, you have quite the beautiful singing voice," he said to the
blue, offering him more scratchies.

}:Is this singing? Like what Santhiath's rider does?:{

**I suppose it is a kind of singing.** "We have a harper-trained
friend and he wonders if it's the same kind of singing," T'lin told
Brennault.

"It seems very much the same to me," said Brennault, smiling. He
immediately thought of A'vel as that Harper-trained friend. "Maybe not
quite so practiced as a Harper, but no less beautiful to my ears."

Calaroth tilted his head to help Brennault get at a better spot. "He's
very happy you think so," T'lin said, although his blue's reaction
made that obvious.

Brennault laughed softly and continued his happy scratching, leaning
his head against Calaroth's.

"It really feels pretty amazing to make friends with dragons," he
said. "You are such amazing creatures."

"It's even more amazing to have one of your own." T'lin patted
Calaroth's foreleg as love flowed across their bond.

"Maybe," Brennault supposed. He wanted to tell T'lin about his
reservations, but he was certain he would only sound like a man making
excuses to avoid some hardship while boasting that he *would* have
undertaken it if only things had been different.

"For now, friends will have to do. Have you had your bath yet for
today, Calaroth?"

"We bathe them first thing in the morning," T'lin said, before
Calaroth could ask for a second bath he didn't need. "And anyway I
need to head to class, but you can stay and entertain Cal if you like.
We've got a lecture today and those bore him."

"I'm all done for the day except for running out to the waystation, so
as long as I don't stay too late, I bet we can have some fun, Cal!"
Brennault smiled and then offered a hand to T'lin to shake.

"Nice talking to you. Have fun in class."

"Thanks." T'lin shook his hand. "See you later."

Last updated on the April 4th 2019

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Meeting a Blue