Almost Done Growing

Writers: Kastaka, Vix
Date Posted: 5th May 2008

Characters: Vasha, Ch'bal
Description: Vasha washes Ch'bal's dragon and dispenses some advice
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 9, day 20 of Turn 4

The sun was sparkling off the weyrlake as Vasha left the tunnels where she'd been moving supplies from one storeroom to another, and shining off the dragons arrayed around the lake's edge, being washed or oiled or just basking in the sunlight. She looked across the lake edge for a likely target, and spotted one of the boys who she remembered Impressing at the last Hatching. His green dragon didn't look like it took much maintenance compared to the enormous creatures some of the riders were washing, but weyrlings were often tired and happy to have a hand, so she wandered over and tried to catch his eye, smiling.

"Stay still, Vaith." Ch'bal shoved his hair from his eyes in annoyance and turned to see what hat attracted the green's attention. He frowned slightly as he noted the girl, her dragonhealer knots evident. "Yes?
She just had a check-up last sevenday."

"Oh, no, I'm not here for anything formal," said Vasha apologetically.
"I was just admiring her in the sunlight, that's all. Want a hand with the oiling?"

"I'll take all the help I can get," the weyrling told her. "The bigger dragons usually get the offers, but she's picky enough to take as much work or more." He indicated the bucket nearby. "She likes it smeared on liberally, but then rubbed well."

Vasha went to work straight away, smearing generous handfuls of oil on the young dragon. "Looks like she's almost done growing there," she commented, as she reached up to cover a more awkward region.

Ch'bal nodded. "We're coming up on graduation so I doubt she'll grow much more. Of course, that doesn't keep her from _thinking_ that she's growing and needs extra oil for the itches."

"I guess she'll still be putting on muscle," replied Vasha absent-mindedly as she began to rub the oil into the dragon's glistening hide. "Looking forwards to your first Fall?" she asked, making conversation, "although maybe looking forwards isn't quite the word for it, I guess."

The greenrider shuddered as he rubbed at a drier-looking patch near one of Vaith's wing joints. "She is, though I can't say that I am."

}:It is what we do.:{ The green dragon told him matter-of-factly.

**Yes, but that doesn't make it any less frightening,** was the young rider's reply.

"Well, that's a good way round to have it," replied Vasha with slightly inappropriate cheerfulness, "given that she's much more likely to get hurt than you are." She continued to rub oil into the dragon's side, apparently not aware that the prospect of Vaith being horrifically injured by Thread might not be the kind of thing one would have a casual conversation about.

"Yeah, and that's the problem." He stopped, leaning against the dragon's side. "She keeps saying that we'll be fine and that she'll take care of me when we're up there, but in our classes and drills they keep stressing that we're responsible for our dragons."

"I think that's because dragons always feel responsible for their riders," replied Vasha, continuing to concentrate on rubbing in oil and not noticing that Ch'bal had stopped doing so. "So you don't have to tell them to be responsible. But riders sometimes need reminding.
You don't look like the irresponsible sort, though. Your dragon is beautiful and very well-cared-for. I'm sure you'll do fine."

"That's the problem," Ch'bal told her. "I do try to be responsible, but up there, what can I do? I'll be pretty much helpless."

"But there are lots of things you can do," replied Vasha, continuing to rub in oil. "You keep a good look out. You make sure she follows orders properly. You tell her what's going on and what to do if she gets confused. You feed her with firestone properly. I'm sure they've told you all this about a million times, I'm just a weyrbrat and I've heard it enough."

"Then you or one of the other weyrbrats should have Impressed her." He sank back against the green dragon, his hand stroking the softness of her oiled hide. "I don't know enough about dragons to help her, know only what I've learned in my classes. Why did she choose me?"

}:Who else was there for me to choose?:{ Vaith turned to regard him in surprise.

"Look, silly, dragons choose people for a reason," insisted Vasha, looking up as the dragon moved under her hands and pausing in her work. "If you really were completely hopeless, she'd have left you standing. And you've been through endless classes and drills, right?"
Vasha wiped off her hands on the dragon sufficiently that she could fold her arms and look demanding (and slightly petulant) at Ch'bal, aiming to reinforce her point.

He blinked at the vehemence of her response. "I know that they choose who they wish and that we shouldn't question that choice, but I can't help feeling that she'd be better off without someone who was frightened to be up there during a Fall."

Vasha was slightly stuck for an answer, not really understanding what it was like to be afraid, so she settled for looking skeptical. "Don't you do training, with like, ribbons?" she asked, waving her hands around vaguely in an attempt to portray a Threadfall drill. "You know what to do, right? You know we're all waiting for you on the ground to pick you up again if there's a problem. So what is there to be frightened of?"

He snorted, now more confident in what he had to say. "Ribbons and ropes don't burn through flesh. And if there's a problem, there might not be much to pick up."

"But then you wouldn't have anything to worry about," replied Vasha, picking up some more oil and starting to rub it into the dragon again, still apparently confused about why Ch'bal might be afraid, "because you'd be dead."

"And wouldn't that just solve all of my problems?" he asked sarcastically. "That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid, but haven't a good idea of how."

"Mostly it's a matter of doing as you're told, isn't it?" replied Vasha, trying to figure it out as she goes along. "And listening to your dragon, and... dodging things," she waved her hands around vaguely, "oh, and knowing your limits. I think I'm meant to tell you something like how you need to pay close attention to your dragon and get her out of the air if she's becoming tired or uncomfortable so that you don't get to spend the next couple of weeks in our charming company while we put her wings back in shape, or something." She patted the dragon reassuringly. "Especially as you're riding green."

"She hates to admit that she's tired," Ch'bal admitted, "and argues with me that she's just fine. I guess that I'm just afraid that she'll start to tire and decide that she's staying up there and I'll be helpless to get her back to the ground."

"Then it's your job to get her down," said Vasha, without thinking. "I mean, she trusts you, right?" A moment's meditative rubbing later, Vasha had another thought. "Have you asked the weyrlingmaster or whoever's going to be your wingleader about it? There should be someone around who'll have a big enough dragon to order her down, and you could arrange some kind of signal, if you were worried that you might not be able to get her down yourself."

"I feel as if that would be breaking trust with her," he said with a sigh. "She keeps insisting that we'll be fine and that we don't need help."

"It's good to trust your dragon," said Vasha, stalling for a moment to think, "but you've also got to trust your superiors. Anyway, you're not telling them about some problem with your dragon, you're telling them about some problem with you, that they can help you with. If she's right, they'll just reassure you and send you on your way."

"I suppose you're right about that," he nodded. "You don't think they'd consider me silly or incompetent for asking?" As much as he questioned why Vaith had chosen him, Ch'bal could not imagine life without her, and feared that some day the mistake would be realized and the dragon taken from him.

"No," said Vasha firmly, "I think they'd consider you silly or incompetent for _not_ asking." She rubbed the dragon's oily hide a little harder in unconscious emphasis of her point.

"I suppose I should talk to them." Ch'bal moved around, absent-mindedly gathering the equipment that had been used to bathe and oil the dragon.

"Yes, you should," replied Vasha, nodding for emphasis, rinsing off the last of the oil and handing the bucket to Ch'bal. "And I hope not to be handing anyone reeds and cloth to bind your dragon's poor overstretched wings any time soon. Good luck, Ch'bal."

He nodded his thanks to her. "I definitely can agree to that."

Last updated on the May 5th 2008

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