First Flight

Writers: Len, Paula
Date Posted: 29th September 2010

Characters: Sh'lua, G'wen, C'lua
Description: Sh'lua's son C'lua makes his first flight since losing his eyesight
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 10, day 25 of Turn 5

"Careful now, sir," Galwen said as he assisted the injured rider from his
dragon. "There, step down, to your left. Tarth has his foreleg there
to help you down." The man stepped gingerly onto the sturdy leg of his
lifemate.

The morning had seen C'lua take his first flight on Tarth since the accident that had ruined his face. The dragon had tenderly flown over the forest, up above the upper lake before descending to the bowl. Idly Galwen noted that he should wash the brown before too long, as the poor beast looked a bit sweaty from the short flight. He had sat behind C'lua for the flight to steady him, in case the lack of sight would unsettle the man.

Turning back from the dragon, he looked at C'lua without flinching. "Sir? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," the young brownrider replied, sounding bit tense. Bandages hid
his scarred face and also protected it from the cold air.

Galerith glided to the ground after Tarth. They had followed the flight, just in case.

Galwen glanced over at the smaller dragon and his rider, who was C'lua's
father. Before today he hadn't met the man until he had been roped in to
help with the flight. He seemed a nice sort. Galwen had remembered
something about him leaving his own Weyr to come back here, because of
the horrific injury to C'lua. He also recalled something from the
Healers about C'lua inhaling thread.

Giving the young man a reassuring pat on the arm, he turned to the man's father. "He did brillant, didn't he?"

"Oh, yes, he did," Sh'lua replied.

"I wish I coud see," C'lua complained with silent voice. He couldn't speak very loudly any longer and his voice sounded hoarse.

Galwen didn't know what to say. Instead he squezed the man's arm and gazed over to his father. Surely he would know just what to do to reasure his son.

"Have you practiced looking through Tarth's eyes?" Sh'lua asked.

"You know it makes me dizzy. He sees the world so differently. All those facets, and 360 degrees vision," he shuddered.

Galwen absetly patted the big brown, wondering what it would feel like to see with his eyes. One of the nurses had called him in this morning, asking if he would mind helping C'lua with flying. Grabbing any chance to
ride adragon back, he had quickly agreed. He had heard of C'lua's
injuries--it had been the gossip of the kitchens for a day or two--but
had never met the young man until today. In kinder conditions he
supposted he would be fun to be around, and he had heard that he was
once handsome. And this wasn't the first horrific thread injury that
the boy had seen. In the Weyr, marring threadscores were all too
common. At least he and his dragon were alive. Galwen sighed, thinking of the many deaths there had been in the past few turns.

Sh'lua shifted his attention away from C'lua for moment. "Could you be so kind and remove Tarth's straps, please?" he asked the candidate.

The brown had taken his own hit when his rider had been injured, but it had been minor one. Sh'lua could see the place were piece of backridge was missing. His own Galerith had bigger scar on his side. That had been awfully close to taking out his wing.

Galwen nodded his acceptance to Sh'lua. He noticed the man's eyes were the same colour as his own. Had C'lua's been the same as well? He patted
the brown to let him know where he was before slipping the lines from
the brown dragon. He watched the man with his son out of the corner of
his eye. He was a pleasant looking type, if a bit more his father's
age. But then again, the man T'bel had been trying him on the other night was about the same age, if not older. But that was T'bel. The boy stopped his thoughts from straying, the last thing this poor man needed was some silly little weyrbrat flirting with him!

The boy seemed to know what he was doing, Sh'lua noticed with approval. He was used to dragons. He looked to be about Sh'low's age. "How old are
Galwen?" Sh'lua asked, driven by natural curiousity.

"I'm 16 turns," he said, smiling. "I'll be 17 soon."

Bit older than Sh'low then, falling between Shaene and Sh'low. "Ever met my daughter Shaene? She's 18," he asked.

Galwen mused, "I think so, she rides a pretty green, right?" If she was the girl he was thinking of, she was quite nice to be around. Or at least
he had never heard a bad word out of T'bel's mouth about her.

"Yes, she does. Since D'nev's girl took the gold, she had no other options left," Sh'lua said with laugher in his eyes.

"Ah well, the greens are more fun!" Having a gold looked too much like
hard work, in Galwen's eyes. All that paperwork! What was the fun in
that? He laughed before adding, "browns and blues are nice too."

"Not thinking too high of bronzes?" Sh'lua asked after giving his son a
glance. C'lua was coping, slowly, but coping. He was removing his
flight-clothes.

"Well...there's no point in longing for something that will never be your's," he said, smiling. He too followed the man's line of view and saw C'lua taking his jacket off. He was doing well, much better than that friend of T'bel's who went to pieces just because his injury meant that his green wouldn't be Rising on cue. C'lua seemed a brave man to the boy.

"Realism, saves you from disappointments," Sh'lua nodded.

"Dad! Where's my cane?" C'lua called.

"Against the wall, two steps on your left!" Sh'lua called back. His heart ached to see him so helpless, but he would do even more damange, if he helped C'lua too much. He had to learn to live his everyday life without eyes and without help.

Galwen mentally urged C'lua's hand to his cane before nodding to Sh'lua's words. "I'll wash his fellow here," and he patted Tareth on the shoulder, "if you two want to get out of the cold."

"Thank you, Galwen, you have been a great help," Sh'lua said but his attention wasn't on the boy any longer.

Last updated on the October 1st 2010

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First Flight