Underestimate Us, That'll Be Fun

Writers: Devin, Halyonix
Date Posted: 27th January 2026

Characters: M'sar, Hesbia
Description: Two Holdless weyrlings catch up over breakfast
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 12, day 25 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: M'thos, Sybana, D'miran

Notes:
~*~

Well at least it was another former Holdless that was cutting up meat that morning.

The sevenday had not had any perks for Hesbia. Between her sister unable to sleep alone in their old family room (Hesbia couldn't blame her on that really) and her argument with D'miran (stupid wherryhead), Hesbia was ready to fight just about anyone. "Good, it's you," she said as she took up the cutting station next to him and began carving up bites for Oriveth.

M'sar was so sharding tired, but her comment made him laugh. "You're happy to see me?" He had to focus when using the heavier, square meat cleaver, but he handled the other blades with familiar ease as he sliced up small chunks.

Nazoth wiggled eagerly. }:Food! Food now!:{

"Don't let it go to your head," Hesbia muttered. "I'm just glad I'm not having to defend my Impression to yet another dragonrider. They're all high and mighty when it came to our Search, telling us that it was the dragons that would decide, and then the dragons decided and suddenly half of them are all 'wait, not like that!' It's annoying."

"They can whine all they want. No one can _ever_ take our dragons away." M'sar handed Nazoth a piece of meat, reminding the dragonet to chew.

"Damn right," Hesbia agreed as she did the same for Oriveth. "I'm still shocked that he picked me though. Just getting Searched was a big opportunity. But a dragon? I didn't see that coming."

"And a blue one at that. We feckin' showed them didn't we?" M'sar grinned. "Not worthy of a dragon my ass."

That brought a chuckle from Hesbia. "That really backfired on them, didn't it? They thought the dragons were going to prove their biases right. Good to see them having to stomach it now." But even as she said that, she realized that only a few of them were really like that. "I mean, the Weyrlingmasters aren't so bad. They've been mostly welcoming," she added, thinking of how M'thos was letting Hesbia's little sister stay in the Barracks during the adjustment.

"Eh, I guess they're okay sometimes." M'sar shrugged. "Sybana's choking on it, though," he said with a grin.

"That's the goldrider one? With the ugly queen?" Hesbia should know, especially since said ugly queen was the dam of their dragons, but she really didn't care about dragonrider names.

"Yeah, she's some kind of fancy lady. Blood, I think." He rolled his eyes. "She told me I didn't deserve a dragon."

Hesbia grunted. "Great. So a Lady Holder on a gold. Sounds like she has extra sticks up her ass."

Oriveth blinked. }: Maybe we don't speak so ill of others? :{ he suggested shyly.

Hesbia looked down at her dragon, who was looking up at her with those kaleidoscopic rainbow eyes within that midnight blue head. He was absolutely perfect. And while she didn't agree with his suggestion, she still gave in to it. "They're always going to underestimate us," she said aloud as she caressed Oriveth's chin. "But we're going to show them otherwise."

}:More food!:{ Nazoth opened his mouth wide and M'sar obediently gave him another hunk of raw meat.

"I made a bet with Damiran -- D'miran -- that I'd learn dragonriding stuff before he did," M'sar said. "He was shooting his mouth off about how he was better than us."

"Yeah well he's still shooting off his mouth about how all of us Holdless are thieves and murderers," Hesbia said with a sour tone entering her voice. "But let him. Fuck him. They wouldn't last one sevenday in some of the situations we've all been through." Yeah, Thread was dangerous but so was waking up with a tunnel snake in your camp. "I'm glad we don't have to go back though. I mean, we didn't have to before so long as we behaved and stuff but now it's ironclad. They aren't going to kick a dragonrider out." At least, Hesbia had never heard of a dragonrider going Holdless. Was that even a possibility?

"They're stuck with us now," M'sar said with a feral grin.

Hesbia hummed in agreement. "You going to stay here when we're done? You know we can go anywhere once we graduate, right? Make up some story, start over somewhere else. No one would ever doubt a dragonrider." It was a bit like placing the cart before the runner but Hesbia had kicked around the idea of going somewhere warm.

"Hadn't thought that far ahead." He shrugged. Waiting around until the Hatching and being on his best behavior had been the longest term planning he'd done in forever.

"I might," Hesbia said. "The snow is great and all but if I'm gonna be stuck fighting Threadfall til I'm old and Ori's gray, then I might do it somewhere with a beach or something like that." Plus, it would be nice to start over somewhere that didn't hold so many secrets.

M'sar felt . . . something. Like he would miss her? That couldn't be right. He didn't care what other people did. "Thought I would hate being in one place for so long, but it's not so bad. I might stick around."

Hesbia's tone turned thoughtful. "Yeah," she agreed. "Who knows. It's still a long way off. How many months until graduation? Shells, I can't wait to ride Ori, honestly. Every day, I keep checking over his wings, seeing how long they're getting. I can't wait to get up there. Sear being stuck on the ground anymore."

"Yeah. It's gonna be great. And once they learn how to go /between/, we can go wherever we want." M'sar fed another piece to Nazoth.

}:I want to fly now. The older dragons say I cannot.:{ Nazoth stretched his wings as he chewed. }:They say I need to be bigger, but I am bigger every day!:{

}: Patience, brother, :{ Oriveth cautioned his clutchmate in between bites. }: All things in time. :{

}:We are forever waiting for 'later',:{ Nazoth complained.

}: But it shall be worth it, :{ Oriveth replied stoutly. }: Think. If you do too much before you are ready, you will set yourself back even further. :{

Nazoth huffed. }:We were born to fly and flame. We should do that as soon as possible.:{

}: As soon as _feasibly_ possible, :{ Oriveth countered. Then he huffed softly and said to his rider, }: There are some beings are so _impatient_. :{ Hesbia looked down at her dark blue and raised a curious eyebrow. }: Nazoth, :{ Oriveth explained. }: He wants to fly _now_ and not wait until it is time. :{

Hesbia's attention went back to slicing up meat. "Ori says Nazoth is ready to go? Flying, I mean. Like, not wanting to wait."

M'sar laughed as he gave more meat to his bottomless pit of a dragon. "Nazoth doesn't want to wait for anything. My impatient boy," he said warmly. "Yours is apparently trying to be all responsible and shit."

"Yeah, no idea where he gets that from," Hesbia muttered. She didn't think of herself as responsible because that conjured up images of authority and shit but the more she thought about it, the more she realized that she _was_ the responsible one of their family since her mother had died. So, maybe that's where Oriveth got it from. She scowled. **You about full?** she asked him.

Oriveth licked his lips. }: Yes. :{

Hesbia cut up a few more bites to help M'sar with Nazoth. "Alright," she said, cleaning the knife, "see you in class."

M'sar looked at the little pile of extra meat for a moment. Finally he said, "Thanks."

Last updated on the February 8th 2026

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Underestimate Us, That'll Be Fun