When Their Time Comes

Writers: Eimi, Paula
Date Posted: 13th May 2006

Characters: U'kaiah, E'naer
Description: U'kaiah and E'naer discuss weyrling's preparedness and their own first experinces with Threadfall
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 11, day 19 of Turn 3

The bronzerider leaned back on the blanket, pillowing his head on his hand and absently chewing the piece of redfruit he had packed as part of their picnic lunch. "Look at that," he said between bites, pointing towards the ceiling of the man-made cavern. "Even the ceiling is carved. It looks like constellations, doesn't it?"

"Mmmm. They sure do." Traelyn linked her fingers behind her head and studied the carvings. "Do you know what that one's called?" she asked, jutting her chin out to gesture to the one on the far left.

"Hmmm," he said thoughtfully as he studied the pattern. "I used to be good at this game."

"Used to?"

U'kaiah shrugged. "I used to know a lot of their names. I guess I haven't been looking a the stars for a while though."

"That's what we should do sometime," Traelyn grinned, propping herself up on a forearm to look down at him. "We should stargaze."

"What, this isn't fun enough for you?" the bronzerider asked before taking another bite of redfruit.

She blinked, then frowned down at him. "Did I say it wasn't?" Of _course_ she was having fun. Shards, she couldn't sharding remember a time when she had been so relaxed. And to be here with him, U'kaiah, her best friend, the both of them shoving their cares away just so they could be together and share each other's company like they used to... It brought back memories. Good ones.

"Trae, I was kidding," he said frowning back. "When did you get so sharding serious, huh?" U'kaiah then winked and pulled her down to his side, pillowing her head on his arm. "Now come on and tell me what that constellation is called before it drives me nuts."

Grinning quietly, she rubbed her cheek against his arm before looking up to study the night sky detailed in stone. "Well...you see how some of the constellations look smaller than the rest? I guess that means that those are further away from us... I _think_ that one's called Astrum Aur...Astrum Auriga." She wrinkled her nose as her tongue slipped over the unfamiliar, strange words. "Shards. Constellations are called the weirdest things."

"Yeah they are. And they're never named after things they actually _look_
like. That would be so much easier." Sometimes U'kaiah thought the ancients were really silly people, making things so much harder than they ever needed to be. Geniuses to be sure, but there is such a thing as taking it to extremes.

"Wouldn't it?" she sighed. Then she tilted her head to glance at him out of the corner of her eye. "But not everyone has your intellect, U'kaiah.
They think it would be too easy. But we know better, don't we?"

He wasn't quite sure that was a compliment. "Yes, well, stars are pretty to look at, but there are plenty of other things I understand better."

Snaking an arm around his middle, Trae laughed. "And when did _you_ get to be so sharding serious, hmm? I was teasing you."

"Oh, I'm not so serious as all that," he chuckled as started tracing lazy patterns on the back of her arm. "It's a truth, really. I don't know much about stars. I like looking at them, but the more I know about them, the less... amazing they seem."

"Mmmm. I know what you mean." She paused, her eyes wandering over the etched constellations. "I guess it's true what they say: ignorance can be bliss."

"Hmmm. Sometimes." He reached up for his pack and used that to pillow his head as he turned on his side to look at the goldrider. "Why didn't you ever craft, Trae?"

Shifting, she brought one knee up, her eyes still focused on the ceiling -
E'naer threw the pile of weyrlingcharts into the bronzerider's arms and grinned. "You're drafted. I need your leadership experience to help me assign who leads drill trios and later nines among the weyrlings." "Oh, all right," U'kaiah said as he struggled with the precariously balanced set of hides. "Where shall we start?"

E'naer shrugged and took a seat. "You've got a change to get to know our weyrlings. Anybody standing out as a leader?" The bronzerider considered the question a moment. "Well, Teseada seems to be doing her best to fill the goldrider's role. I think she's done well, and she will be put into leadership positions someday."

"Well, she is a goldrider, it is expected of her," E'naer said. "How about that young bronzerider, U'ino? I feel he has a bit of an attitude-problem." "Most definitely," U'kaiah frowned. A young N'vanik if he ever saw one.
Just what a bronze had seen in the boy... Still, it was a bronze. "I would certainly be careful about putting him in any position of authority, even if its slight."

"Little humility wouldn't harm him, "The greenrider agreed with a dry voice. "Certainly not. But I do think bronzerider K'ten shows a lot of promise. His dragon might not be as agile as U'ino's, but he certainly has more true leadership potential."

"Yes, how about if we recommend K'ten to lead a drill and place U'ino under him?" E'naer pondered. Of course, the Weyrlingmaster would do the final decisions. "I would put V'tano, that young brownrider as the second," U'kaiah replied thoughtfully. "There really is nothing that U'ino has done to earn that second spot other than Impress bronze. V'tano, on the other hand, has a great attitude and really studies his role."

"Yes, and he's been helping his wingmates, sometimes even when he shouldn't. But he can handle the responsibility." E'naer grinned and wrote down few notes.

"How about the third's position?"

"There's plenty of promising greens and blues." "Who has stood out in your mind?" the bronzerider asked curiously.

"Kamira, Karri and B'sek, they all given me good impressions. Faranth, I can't believe it. Not long ago I was helping them to feed their hatchlings, and now we are preparing to graduate them to senior weyrling-status!" "That is unbelievable," the bronzerider nodded. And welcome news in regards to at least on of the mentioned greenriders. "Has it been decided when they will have their first jumps /between/?"

"Soon. The weyrlingmaster promised to announce it at the next wing meeting. Have you noticed how this current weyrlingmaster doesn't get involved as much with the weyrlings as the previous ones?" "Yes," U'kaiah said with a heavy sigh. It made him rather sick to see, considering how desperately he wanted to be back in the lead of his own wing, and yet that man who had a wing spent as little time with it as possible. "You know, if it were not a Pass, I would almost be happy to take it over myself." But one could not fight Thread and be a Weyrlingmaster. Nor could a Weyrlingmaster also be Weyrleader...

"Well, each leader has his own individual style," E'naer said neutrally, but deep down he agreed with the bronzerider. U'kaiah would make a good weyrlingmaster, if he learned to control his emotions.

The bronzerider just snorted his understanding that the greenrider was riding a fine line, but they _both_ knew E'naer was a better Weyrlingmaster than his wingleader. "Well, at least the weyrlings have been well trained."

"At least they all made it this far more or less intact," the greenrider shrugged. He was remembering one brownrider who was particularly accident-prone. He was in a age where his body grew faster than he could catch up. He was trying _not_ to think the first /betweening/ practises and the almost inevitable losses they would cause. U'kaiah could practically see what was on E'naer's mind. "Ah, don't worry. They are well trained. They'll all make it though all right."

"I wish. And then there will be blooding..." "Yes. Blooding." U'kaiah couldn't even imagine what that must be like for a Weyrling. "But Blooding is a whole lot sharding safer than what _we_ went through our first time facing Thread."

"So true. At least these weyrlings know what to expect. I had never seen Thread before," E'naer said with a faraway look. "Who had," the bronzerider snorted. "That first clump right in front of you. You never forget it, do you. The terror, the fury, and that rush of excitement all rolled into one. Just like you never forget that first painful scream you hear."

E'naer nodded. "Or the death keens." U'kaiah looked at the greenrider thoughtfully. "I forget, were you scored in that first Fall?"

"No, that happened bit later, but I lost a good friend." "Who didn't." U'kaiah had never seen anything like that first Threadfall. It was chaotic, it was messy, it was all theory and no real understanding of just what they were up against. Even falling back on the training couldn't save them all. He shook his head and tried to push the thought from his mind. "Well, these weyrlings will be prepared when their time comes."

"Yes, we will see to it," The greenrider smiled.

"Sharding right, we will. All right, do we have our group leaders then?"

"Pretty much, yes," E'naer said, scanning his notes. "Good," U'kaiah nodded. He rose to his feet. "Don't worry, E'naer. They'll do well. I better get ready for class."

"Easier said than done," the weyrlingmaster's third remarked wryly.

Last updated on the May 13th 2006

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When Their Time Comes