No Question Is A Dumb Question

Writers: Eimi, Sunrose
Date Posted: 28th January 2006

Characters: Illiana, M'galec
Description: Illiana pesters M'galec with questions
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 9, day 12 of Turn 3

Class had just finished and after telling Jerric that she'd meet him in the dinning cavern for dinner the red haired candidate dashed out of the room and followed the form of the bronzerider who had just lectured them on what to expect at the Hatching. She had a few more questions for M'galec and didn't want to wait until later to have them answered or they would plague her mind for the rest of the day. "Excuse me Weyrlingmaster Second!" She shouted as she jogged up to his side.

"Yes?" he asked almost absently as he turned towards the candidate, his mind on how he could get his hidework done in time to have dinner with Lenala before his shift in the Infirmary.

"I was wondering if you had time for a few more questions, but I understand if you have other duties to attend to." Illiana said as she fell into stride with the bronzerider.

"No, that should be fine." He turned his head to look at the candidate.
Her face was not familiar. "You are new, I think."

"Very," she offered one of her small hands to the bronzerider, "Illiana, Journeywoman BeastCrafter."

One eyebrow rose in surprise as he took her offered hand. "A journeywoman. Not too many candidates come to the Weyr a journeyman, let alone a journey_woman_."

"I've noticed." She admitted. "But I really came to be here all by chance, or luck, I haven't decided which yet. Needless to say I never expected to be lucky enough to be Searched."

"Well, I shall have to hear your story some day. Now, you said you had questions?" the bronzerider asked, still half consumed with the thought of the stack of hides on his desk.

Illiana nodded. "Now you discusses what to expect during Hatching, and how to deal with it if you didn't Impress. But I am curious as to how the dragon knows to pick someone, and that that person is right for them? Is it just an instinctive knowledge, or it is the first person they see and come to accept them as a mother of sorts much like some of our avian species?" She hoped the question wasn't completly out of place, or that it made her look like a dimglow.

M'galec was prepared for that question. It was one that new residents to the Weyr often asked. Even some who had lived in the Weyr all their lives wondered. In fact, he was impressed at how articulate a question it was. "Well, logically, it cannot be the first person they see. If a bronze sees a female Candidate first, they will still Impress a male.
Likewise, a bronze who sees a male Candidate who is not sexually suited will pass him over for one who is."

He didn't skip a beat as they started up the stairs. "At the same time, dragonets often look from one Candidate to another until they find the right one. That would seem to show that dragonet is not searching for a random face for capatablity."

"So it is just something that they know, deep down side, they follow a gut feeling or a certain drawn to one person?" She said more to herself then to M'galec. "So why would one dragon pick a person on their sexuality? Why would something like that affect their judgement?"

"Perhaps it has to do with temperment or the biology of the brain," the bronzerider replied thoughtfully. "If you ask a dragon, though, how they knew to chose you over another compatable candidte they will tell you that... Well, they just _knew_."

Illiana nodded in thought. "It really is quite remarkable, the bond between a dragon and their rider, but I'm sure you know all about that."
She smiled warmly at M'galec. "Does a dragons choice sometimes concern you or make you wonder why a certain person might be picked over another? And are there types of people that dragons won't even look at or consider?"

"If anyone could Impress we would not have to go Searching for suitable candidates, now would we," he said with only a slightly condescending tone. "But sometimes it is a mystery why certain people Impress and why others who seem more suited to dragonriding do not. And just because someone is found on Search, it does not necessarily mean they _will_
Impress. Only that they are of the right sort that would."

The candidate furrowed her brow. "I see," Illiana said as she pondered what she had just been told. "So the dragons that go on Search, they see something in young men and women, something like that they saw in their rider the day of their Hatching. So what qualities make a good dragon rider?"

"In my _personal_ opinion?" M'galec knew that not everyone was in agreement on that score. "I think the best riders are those that realize that being a dragonrider is much more than enjoying the freedoms the Weyr provides. We are priviledged to live in such comfort here.
The best riders are those who look beyond the drills and the Threadfalls. We must always remember that, though fighting Thread is the duty the dragons were born to do, we have so much more to offer and give Pern. The ones who can remember that, in my opinion, are the best riders."

Illiana grinned. "Well spoken bronzerider, and now I have one final question and I will leave you to your duties as I am sure you have more important things to be doing rather then answering the questions of a candidate that sometimes rerads too much into things." She winked at the bronzerider then continued with her qyuestions. "Why do you think that _you_ were chose to be a dragonrider?"

M'galec considered the question a moment. Why _had_ he been chosen?
Was it his mind? His work ethic? Some facet of his personality? Or all of it together? He finally shrugged and said, "I guess I was chosen because Dwarkanath couldn't live without me."

"I hope that there is a dragon like Dwarkanath out there for me." She said feeling all warm and tingly inside. "Thank-you very much for tolerating my questions and answering to give me more understanding. But now I should be off, as I am sure you have better things to do. Again thank-you Bronzerider M'galec."

"Of course. Any time you have a question," he nodded as his mind returned with some reluctance to the pile of work waiting for him.

Last updated on the January 29th 2006

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

No Question Is A Dumb Question