Heroic Tales and Weyr Romance

Writers: Devin, Estelle
Date Posted: 26th November 2024

Characters: R'fal, T'lin
Description: R'fal asks T'lin for advice from a Searchrider
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 2, day 3 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: Corofel

T'lin

The dining cavern was as noisy and cheerful as ever, since it was a
welcome day without Fall. R'fal wasn't due on watch until later in the
afternoon, so he lingered over his klah while he read over a letter that
had arrived that morning from a runner, from his sister at Emerald
Falls. It had been a while since he'd visited, and it would be her
birthingday soon. He wondered what to get her - though he could tell
from what she wrote that there was only one thing she really wanted.

A thought struck him, and he looked up, scanning the cavern to see if
one of his old weyrling classmates was there. **Marlath, do you know if
Calaroth's rider is around? Is he busy?**

}:Mine is with some wingmates,:{ Calaroth answered the brown. }:Not busy.:{

**Oh - good,** R'fal replied when Marlath passed the message on. **Does
he have a moment to talk? There's something I wanted to ask. Some
advice, actually.**

A moment later T'lin headed over to where R'fal was sitting. "Hey, you
wanted to talk?"

"Yes, thanks for coming over. It's about Search, and candidates?" R'fal
waited while T'lin took a seat.

"Oh yeah? What do you need to know?" T'lin slid into the seat across
from him.

"Well, I know that if you live here in the Weyr, you can ask to become a
Candidate, without waiting to be Searched." A lot of their classmates
had done just that. "But what about if you live in a hold, but have a
dragonrider in the family?"

"That doesn't really change anything. They'd still need to be Searched."
T'lin arched an eyebrow. "Do you have someone in mind?"

"My sister," R'fal explained. "She's fostering at Emerald Falls and
she's supposed to be learning to be a lady, but every time I go to visit
her, she tells me how she's bored with sewing and dancing and that she
wants to be a dragonrider. Up till now she's been too young, but she'll
be twelve in a few sevendays. I'm not sure what to tell her then."

"Tell her to present herself when a Searchrider comes. We visit the main
Hold for every clutch," T'lin said. "Having a rider in the family does
increase her chances, but it doesn't guarantee anything."

"I'll try. I think she really wants to come to the Weyr, but I'm not
sure the Hold or my mother would be pleased if I took her, and - " R'fal
sighed. "I already have one problem family member here."

"Ohh, yeah." T'lin had heard things about R'fal's father, mostly the
rumor that he'd been involved with poisoning the hatchlings. "Holders
complain enough about Search, we don't need them thinking we're actually
kidnapping people."

"People complain about Search?" R'fal thought of how he'd daydreamed of
being chosen, growing up on his family's farm. "We always thought it was
an honor." He couldn't imagine thinking otherwise - apart from the
poison plotters, who had to be deranged.

"Some complain we're taking sons they need for work, which I suppose is
fair enough." T'lin knew how important it was for everyone to help out,
especially at smaller holds. "Others say we're corrupting their girls or
nonsense like that."

R'fal rolled his eyes. "That's silly. Although..." He remembered his
first few sevendays at Dolphin Cove. "It's not corrupting, but life is
so different here. I never thought about it that way before, but anyone
who spends time as a Candidate, even if it's only for a few months, is
going to come back changed. Even more for girls than boys." That was
another reason why he'd need to be careful about his sister.

"It must be hard going back to all the rules and restrictions when
you've tasted the freedom of the Weyr."

"Yes. Perhaps some people miss their families and their home. I thought,
when I was Searched, that if I didn't Impress I'd return and help my da
run the farm." He hadn't thought about that in a long time. "What about
you - would you have gone back?"

T'lin shook his head. "I actually came to the Weyr to Craft. The
Technician Hall wasn't going to be the best fit for a boy like me."

"Their loss," R'fal said loyally. He didn't know what the Technician
Hall - or any Crafthall - was like, but in some ways they seemed more
rule-bound than his small farm. "I suppose it doesn't matter now.
Marlath couldn't live anywhere but a Weyr."

"If your sister does get Searched, do you think she'd stay?" T'lin asked.

"Probably. She likes Emerald Falls, there's a lot more to see and do
than there ever was at the farm hold, but I don't think she likes
learning to be ladylike." R'fal grinned. "Plus, the last time I was
there, she told me that the place is full to bursting with new
fosterlings and all anyone talks about is who's going to marry Lord
Corofel. It's like living in a harper romance, apparently, when she'd
rather be in a dragonrider ballad."

"And I'm living a . . . what does the Printer Hall call them? Weyr
romance." T'lin chuckled.

"Are those any good?" R'fal asked, curious. Back at his home hold,
they'd only had a few pamphlets about rearing herdbeasts and their
diseases, and one book about cookery and hold management which belonged
to his mother. There'd been plenty of stories, but those were told
around the fire in the evenings by the old aunties and uncles.

"Some of them are. Others are really an acquired taste. The last one I
read had a _bronzerider_ involved with a man," T'lin said with delight.

"Scandalous." The brownrider pretended shock. "I thought dragonrider
tales were all about fighting Thread and rescuing Ladies from the
clutches of villainous bandits, but I guess there's more...variety."

"Oh those are the heroic tales. Some of the weyr romances have that too,
but they also have some . . . really good parts." T'lin wiggled his
eyebrows.

"Well, now I've got to try one." R'fal felt his cheeks warming as his
imagination ran wild. "Are there any with...uh...girls in them?" he
asked, trying to sound casual.

T'lin thought a moment. "Oh, there was definitely one where a
bronzerider was torn between two greenriders, and it turns out they
_all_ like each other. I haven't read it but I heard it's good."

"Maybe I'll have a look at it sometime," R'fal said, wondering where he
could find the right kind of trader. Usually he took any spare marks he
made to his family, but maybe his mother wouldn't mind if he said he'd
spent some on a book? He wouldn't have to say what it was about...
"Well, thanks for the advice. I'll tell my sister. And if you go on
Search at Emerald Falls and see a very excited, very unladylike
fosterling jumping up and down and waving at Calaroth, you'll know who
it is."

"I'll just shout 'anyone know R'fal's sister?'" T'lin laughed.

"You won't need to. As soon as she hears a dragon's been spotted, she'll
make herself known." Every time he and Marlath arrived to visit, she was
there to greet them. R'fal got to his feet. "Maybe I'll pay her a
surprise visit. And tell her that Search dragons definitely favor little
girls who don't sneak out of their Harper classes to play in the stables."

The bluerider laughed again. "What a terrible lie." He hoped for her
sake that she had rider potential.

"Probably wouldn't work, anyway." R'fal grinned. He felt sorry for the
Harper. "Thanks, T'lin."

"Hey, I haven't Searched her yet." The bluerider winked.

Last updated on the December 4th 2024

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Heroic Tales and Weyr Romance