Embarrassing Questions

Writers: Cali, Francesca
Date Posted: 2nd October 2008

Characters: Karri, Kamalia
Description: Kamalia asks Karri some questions about mating flights.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 12, day 2 of Turn 4

Class was over. Finally. Kamalia found it hard to pay attention in
Candidate classes, even when she knew she should. She would focus for
the first few minutes, spend the next quarter candlemark spacing out,
and the rest of the time trying to concentrate on the lecture but not
doing a very good job of it. It didn't help that she had heard most
of the lectures already.

However, she did have some burning questions that were not covered in
class, and she was too embarrassed to ask, even when mating flights
were discussed. That is why when one of the Weyrlingstaff Assistants,
Karri, left the room after the end of class, Kamalia followed her.
Even though Kamalia had never spoken with the Karri, she seemed nice
and, more importantly, she was young and rode a green dragon. The
fact that she was on the Weyrlingstaff made her an obvious choice.

"Hi, Karri?" she asked, after making sure the other Candidates had
either gone down another corridor or weren't paying attention.

She smiled at the candidate, "Hi Kamalia, can I help you with
something." The variety of the "K" sounding names always amused
Karri, so it wasn't hard to remember the candidates name from the
crowd.

Kamalia looked around again, making sure nobody was nearby. "I have
some questions."

"Sure," Karri replied easily sitting down on a bench and folding her
legs underneath her, "What's on your mind?"

Kamalia took a seat next to her, mind sorting through her questions to
find the least embarrassing one to ask. "Umm... when your green had
her first mating flight, did you really feel like you were her,
flying? Did you completely become her, or could you still see out of
your own eyes?"

She thought for a minute before replying, "You know, that's a really
hard one. Mating flights aren't really sharp memories. I guess it's
because of the joined mind. I could see the riders that surrounded
me, but it was sort of like they were in a haze or mist, or maybe it
was clouds, because at the same time I could see out of Elliath's eyes
as she was flying through the sky. You feel kind of out of your body,
you can't really feel the ground because you're in the air... but
you're not." She chuckled, "Does that make any sense at all?"

"Sort of." Kamalia remembered seeing riders during a mating flight
move as though they weren't even conscious of it. "Did you feel like
you were in control? Because, I know it's important to control your
green at the beginning, but then what? Does she take over?" That was
one of the aspects of mating flights that scared her. Dragon lust
took over, and the riders had to react to their dragons' actions.

"The important thing is to not panic. Panic makes you lose focus and
then you can't hold on to your dragon. It becomes easier the more
flights you have. It's easier to explain once you get used to the
mind of your dragon." Karri smiled, most candidates were only
concerned with how to impress, this girl was thinking ahead.

Kamalia nodded, trying to absorb the information but unable to make
complete sense of it. She felt like when she was younger and her
mother would often answer her questions by saying she would understand
when she was older. Now, if she just Impressed, everything would fall
into place. She would be skeptical of the fact that all dragonriders
seemed to give this response, but it really appeared to be true.

Unsure of what else to ask, since all of Karri's answers would be
confusing to her, she settled on, "Well, is it fun the first time? Or
is it more stressful?" It seemed greenriders had so much to
concentrate on when their dragon rose, it would be very hard for them
to just let themselves go.

"Honestly, I was scared my first time." Karri replied a little
quieter, like she was revealing a secret. "Next to fighting thread,
it's about the biggest thing to prepare for. So yeah, stressful is
probably a closer word for it, but it definitely _can_ be fun."

Kamalia had watched dragonriders whose dragons were participating in a
mating flight more times than she cared to admit, and from this
outsider perspective could see that each one was very emotional for
everyone involved. However, it was impossible to tell what was going
on in the riders' minds, especially those who lost.

"Well, at least greens never get frustrated, because they always win.
That's one less thing to worry about." At least, it would be one less
thing if she actually Impressed.

"That's true," Karri nodded in agreement, "I feel sorry for the
fellas sometimes. I only have to deal with flights every few months
or so, they sometimes get called every couple of sevendays."

Kamalia giggled at the thought of excited dragons forcing their riders
to participate in mating flights. "That sounds like it could be
embarrassing." Especially if the dragon didn't win very often.

"And annoying too," Karri added with a chuckle, "I don't know how many
times I've been in the middle of a conversation with someone and they just
dash off because their dragon was in the mood."

Kamalia smiled, and realized mating flights were much more complex
than she had originally thought. When she looked at them from a
distance, she knew nothing of what the riders were feeling, or what
happened before or after the flight. And, as Karri had said, she would
never know if she didn't Impress.

For now at least, she could be content with the answers the greenrider had
given to her questions. After the Hatching, maybe- hopefully, she would
understand more. But for now, she was running late. "I need to run to the
kitchens now, to do chores," she said, standing. "But, thank you for
answering my questions."

Last updated on the October 5th 2008

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Embarrassing Questions