The Glass Smiths

Writers: AL, Sia, Yvonne
Date Posted: 1st October 2025

Characters: D'narion, K'lin, Ketlyn
Description: Ketlyn congratulates her fellow apprentice Glass Smiths on their Impressions.
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 8, day 26 of Turn 12

The Weyrling Barracks seemed small, now. It felt strange to walk through the wallows as a dragonrider instead of a weyrling. Ketlyn felt self-conscious about the knots on her shoulder as she nodded to the weyrlings she passed, which grew into a full-fledged smile as she spotted Donnarion- **D’narion,** she reminded herself. He was elbow deep in a bloody bucket of grisly meat. She cleared her throat as she came up behind him. “Hi. I hope I’m not interrupting you too much?"

D'narion startled slightly at the sound of her voice-- he hadn't heard her approach over the wet squelch of meat and the thunk of his knife against the counter. He was in a race against time; getting lunch ready before Rusaeth woke up. And it was about as disgusting as mucking out the barracks.

"No, by all means, please interrupt." He said with a grin. "Your presence makes this task _much_ more agreeable. How has the forge been without me?"

She shrugged a shoulder, pleased that he’d remembered who she was. “I haven’t been able to go down since your Hatching, so your guess is as good as mine. I just wanted to say congratulations on Impressing.”

"Thank you, I'm quite fond of him, even if his snoring is in my head as much as it is out loud." D'narion teased the fat lump of brown snoozing in his wallow. "I think he's going to realize very soon that he's made a horrible mistake. He couldn't have picked someone more different from himself than me." He paused for a second, realizing how that sounded, "I mean that as a joke. It'll be for his own good, but I doubt he thought about that fresh out of the egg."

“I’m sure that he won’t have any regrets.” None of them ever seemed to, no matter _who_ their rider was. Sometimes it still baffled her that Varinth chose her. “And it’s lovely that your brother Impressed at the same Clutch!”

"He won't know any better." D'narion agreed, though his tone was teasing. "It _is_ great, though K'lin has been just as talkative as usual. Zineth has been talking at him, at least." He dumped more pieces into the feed bucket and went to wipe his hands with a rag. "Do you want me to introduce you two? We are on a strict no-touch policy right now, but the man needs to be thoroughly wooed anyway."

“I’d love to!” She skipped past his mention of the weyrling policy, and thankfully Varinth barged into her thoughts to distract her.

}:I want to see the weyrling! They looked so small. _I_ was never that small,:{ she said confidently.

Ketlyn hid a smile. **You’re right, you were smaller!**

K’lin had no idea he was being talked about. Nor did he realise what he was walking into when he stepped into view, his dragonet hovering just behind him. Even though the hatching had not been that long before, Zineth had grown already, and when he lifted his head to allow his jeweled eye to fall upon the other two, it was as if he was bringing attention to that fact. As soon as K’lin saw Ketlyn, he froze, nodded once to her, then stepped up with his own bucket of meat. Zineth eyed the contents of the bucket with great interest, but knew he would have to wait before he could have any, so resigned himself to lying down and waiting.

Ketlyn smiled at him, although her attention was more on Zineth than the new bronzerider. The hatchling’s reddish hide glimmered in the electric lights. “Hello. And congratulations to you both. I, um. Thought I’d come by to say… that.”

"K'lin! Buddy. Have you met Ketlyn? She's a glasscrafter here too, as well as a _lovely_ greenrider." D'narion said brightly, stepping forward just enough to casually nudge his brother towards her. "Her and Varinth were in the last weyrling class, with H'taysh. Varinth seems excited to see the babies, too." Then, to Ketlyn as he stepped back to the buckets, "She's welcome to play with Rusaeth once he's awake and eaten."

Ketlyn gave him a strange look. She hadn’t had time to pass along Varinth’s request, and the thought that Varinth’s private comments could be overheard by people she knew was unsettling. “I heard that you both can hear all the dragons.”

He had not met her, nor was she familiar to him at all. The only expression he offered was a hint of annoyance as his brother ‘bumped’ him in the direction of the woman. Even if Don was willing to flirt with the ladies, that was not his inclination. While he loved his brother, he was not the same as he. Turning, he realised he had been moved closer to the dragonrider than expected and carefully took a step back to increase the distance between them. At the expression on her face, he cast another glance at his brother.

They could hear all dragons, that was true, but K’lin didn’t like advertising that fact. His hand on the handle of the bucket gripped more tightly, and after a quick nod, he turned back to his lifemate. “Well met. Excuse me.” The dragon in question trained one whirling eye on her and the other on the food that should be coming far more quickly than it was, but had shown immeasurable patience to allow his lifemate a brief chat with the other.

“Of course. I should go too. I know how important feeding time is,” Ketlyn said. At least D’narion seemed to remember her. K’lin didn’t seem to at all, and she felt a bit deflated by it. “Um. I just wanted to say congratulations, though. On Impressing. And good luck.”

D'narion, who had been gesturing just out of Ketlyn's sight for K'lin to do _something_, immediately straightened and dropped his hands to affect nonchalance. He did, however, loop his arm around Ketlyn's. "Nevermind him. The bond is new. You'll still come visit me, right? At least while Ru is pathetic and grounded."

“Sure!” Ketlyn said with a smile. “He’s not pathetic, though. He’s wonderful, I’m sure.”

"He is wonderful. Perfect. The best dragon to ever exist, even." D'narion insisted cheerfully, "But also he looks like a caricature sketch of a dragon from a picture book. The one with the teeny wings barely keeping him aloft."

“Well...” Ketlyn recalled how rotund the brown dragonet that D’narion had Impressed had been. D’narion wasn’t wrong. “They all look a bit funny straight out of the egg.”

“Zineth didn’t.” The comment came softly from K’lin, almost lost in the noise of the barracks with the dragonets. His lifemate hadn’t looked funny at all. From the moment he broke through the shell, he had been perfect in every way, and his perfection only perfected itself as time went on.

"You get it, Ketlyn." D'narion said cheerily, unhearing or pretending not to hear his wet blanket of a brother. "All babies look a little weird. Rusaeth will grow out of the baby fat, maybe. Or we'll be running laps until he can hurl himself into the air. Poor thing. Maybe Varinth and Zineth can chase him around the Weyr when he's older."

“He’ll grow into himself before you know it,” she said diplomatically. “He’s just a hatchling, and he’ll be enormous soon. At least, Varinth was.” Although Varinth was rather midsized for a green and both Rusaeth and Zineth would naturally be huge by comparison.

"She can herd him like the canines do to herdbeasts." D'narion said fondly. "Hey, do you have time to go for klah? It'll just take a few minutes for me to get cleaned up and put his bucket in cold storage."

“Sure!” The word slipped out before she could help herself. So much for the composed, competent greenrider she should be in front of a new weyrling. Ketlyn mentally gave herself a smack. “I mean, if you want to. K’lin, did you want to come too?”

Glancing up, K’lin let his eyes dart between the two. While Ketlyn seemed like a nice girl, he suspected Don would prefer some private time with her - and certain that he would not break *that* rule because of Ru. “I’m fine. Thank you.” He nodded politely, a silent release to his brother to not worry about him.

Ugh. Party pooper. D'narion rolled his eyes good naturedly and hefted up the mostly-full bucket. "Suit yourself. Come find us if you change your mind. Ketlyn, how polite was Varinth at dinner? Make me feel better about Rusaeth's manners."

“Oh, terrible!” she said with a laugh. “There was this one time that she nearly took off J’nic’s fingers…” The greenrider launched into the tale as she followed D’narion out of the barracks, pleased that she’d managed to snag at least one of the twin’s attention. She’d enjoy it while it lasted.

Last updated on the October 3rd 2025

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The Glass Smiths