Small Boy, Big Weyr

Writers: Avery
Date Posted: 14th July 2025

Characters: T'ian, V'rel
Description: Newly-Searched Viantico has no idea how to find one person in a big Weyr. Fortunately, V'rel is willing to help.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 9, day 26 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: V'tian, T'lin

Viantico had been at Dolphin Cove Weyr for two entire candlemarks.
He’d been delivered to the Headwoman’s staff to get his new Candidate
gear, and to be assigned his place in the barracks and put down his
things, and to be given a quick tour by an older Candidate named
Cetrallus who seemed completely disinterested in the process who
rattled off a bunch of information about chores and duties so quickly
that he was overwhelmed and barely keeping track of it, and then he
was told it was time for dinner and he was following along to the big
massive Dining Cavern.

That was its own shock for him. He hadn’t gotten to see it when his
brother Vytian Impressed, because their parents had dragged them home
as soon as they saw the color of the dragonhide - didn’t even say
congratulations, didn’t even let them go to the feast - so he’d never
been in here. It was overwhelming. It felt like a huge area, like it
probably fit the entire cot in it, and smelled delicious with all the
food. This was where their tithes went to? Their fingerroots that they
grew and sent away, some of them wound up here? On these great tables?
It was really humbling to think about.

He got in line to get a plate, and while waiting, his eyes scanned the
room, looking at all of the tables that were available, trying to see
the patterns in how people sat. He wanted to find his brother. This
shouldn’t be so hard. The problem was…there were so many tables. So
many people. How to find one brother among all of them? How was he
supposed to figure this out? Viantico experienced a brief moment of
panic about it before he realized he could logic his way through this
if he took a moment.

He had a white knot, because he was a Candidate. Looking, he saw a
table over there, with a few other white knots - which meant more
Candidates. Now, he could eat with the other Candidates. That would
probably be smart, get to know some of them, find some friends, see if
someone had more useful information than Cetrallus had given him.
But…he could do that in the barracks, later this evening. He couldn’t
find his brother in the barracks.

His brother would be at a table with riders. Okay, lots of tables had
riders at them, and there must be hundreds of people in here, or so it
felt to the overwhelmed boy from a cothold, and as far as he could
tell there was no way of distinguishing who was sitting where. Was
there a seating chart where people were assigned? Some kind of
organizational system? If he’d been here awhile, maybe he could solve
this problem, if he knew who Vytian’s friends were, if he knew where
he flew, but right now this seemed insurmountable. Maybe he should
just go sit with Candidates.

The person next to him in line nudged him. “Hey, you’re up next.”

“Thanks,” Viantico said, snapping his attention back to the process of
getting food. He took some of the fish, and some of the vegetables,
making sure to take some fingerroots when he spotted them. He wondered
if he’d grown these, picked these, or if they’d come from some other
cothold somewhere else.

“You looked lost in thought. Are you okay? Overwhelmed?” the
dark-skinned young man said as he plated his own food.

The older person had the same knots his Searchrider had had, Viantico
observed. “Oh, thank you for asking if I’m okay, mister bluerider,
sir. There’s just so many people in here. More than my whole cothold
has, all here for dinner. The whole Weyr isn’t eating all at once, is
it?”

“It’s just V’rel. If you call me Mister Dragonrider, Sir, I look for
my father, who’s a bronzerider,” V’rel said, laughing. “This isn’t the
whole Weyr eating, no. But I can see why it’s overwhelming if you’re
from somewhere very small. Were you going to sit with the other
Candidates? Do you need a smaller table to sit at near the sides where
it’s quieter? I can keep you company, Candidate…”

“Oh! I’m Viantico, nice to meet you.” He wanted to shake the
bluerider’s hand, but he had a plate of food on the tray, and then a
nice caverns worker was gesturing at him to pick up a drink, so he let
her put a glass of juice on it. Then he stepped out of the way so
V’rel could get his own food.

“So I was actually trying to find my brother by looking at tables, but
there’s so many people. He was Searched earlier in the Turn and he
Impressed and he’s probably graduated by now. And he didn’t come back
to the cothold to see us and I know our father is shitty but I waited
for him to come because I wanted to see him. But then today I got
Searched and now I’m here, so I want to see him. And I thought maybe I
could find him here, because everyone has to eat. But if there’s so
many people to look at so what if I can’t spot him. And if not
everyone is here right now, then maybe he isn’t here at all and I
might have to sit forever. Do you know every other rider, or can your
dragon find where he is?”

By the end of his speech, Viantico was completely out of breath.

V’rel started listening seriously, and by the end was trying not to
laugh at how incredibly eager and like a newly hatched excited baby
dragon, or perhaps a squirming canine or feline baby, the new
Candidate Viantico was. He sure sounded enthusiastic about being at
the Weyr and excited to find his brother. Mixed in with the amusement
was a bit of distress, when he heard Viantico sound lost about his
brother’s not coming to find him. The kid seemed nice and eager to
please. Who would leave him alone? He wondered who the brother was,
and what the situation was. Everything did have two sides. He’d help
the kid find his brother on the first day, and then he’d go tell T’lin
about this.

“Tell me your brother’s name, and if I don’t know where he hangs out,
Rymeth will ask for his dragon, and I’ll get you over there.”

“Vytian!” Viantico said enthusiastically.

V’rel’s hands tightened around his tray and he tried not to laugh
aloud. V’tian. The V’tian who T’lin had - on, that was _so funny_. He
was absolutely not going to tell this kid about that fact of life. His
lips were quirked with amusement when he looked over at Viantico.

“V’tian is your brother? Then running into me was your lucky day,
because we ride in the same wing together. In fact, he’s at the table
where our wing usually eats, I see him right now. Come with me and you
can sit with him.

“Really? Wow, that’s so convenient. Thank you so much!” Viantico said
enthusiastically, falling in line behind V’rel.

V’rel led him to the table and then pointed at V’tian and the open
seats near him. Fortunately for them all, V’tian was sitting near the
end of the long table, several open seats nearby, and his back was to
them. V’rel and Viantico could see him, but he could not see them
coming. “There you go. Have a nice reunion.” He then decided to pick a
seat where he could overhear the coming conversation without being
spotted. This was sure to be amusing.

Last updated on the July 29th 2025

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Small Boy, Big Weyr