"Hurry, Jeren!" she finally gasped out. "The eggs rock and the dragons hum!" Jeren quickly changed into the candidate's robe he had been given and ran his fingers through his hair. He wanted to be presentable to the hatchlings. He raced after Bri'onie, easily keeping up with her as his adrenaline gave him speed. When he got to the Grounds, Jeren noticed that the others were already clustered around the five eggs that had been laid by the white Mulgoith.
Jeren spared himself a moment of doubt, wondering if he'd be picked from out of the group of fine candidates. As the eggs rocked, he forgot all his worries and stared intently at them. He noticed Bri'onie up in the stands flash him a thumbs-up as the first egg began to crack. He and the other candidates instinctively closed the loose circle they were in about rocking eggs. Finally, a long jagged crack appeared in the gray and blue one directly in front of Jeren.
Jeren held his breath as the crack slowly widened, pushed apart by the snout of the dragonling within. Suddenly, the egg exploded in several directions as a small, shiny blue pushed his way out. The blue looked at all the boys and walked them by, pausing only to sniff their feet. The other boys feared to move, hoping they would be the ones chosen by the precocious blue. Without making any eye contact with the boys, he walked right past them.
The blue stopped in front of Jeren and said quite clearly to the stunned boy, "You are mine. I'll be with you and I think you're wonderful!" J'ren dropped to his knees in front of the little blue and hugged him saying, "Trofasth, you just met me, how do you know I'm wonderful?" J'ren felt tears run down his face as he hugged the little dragon to him. He looked up to Bri'onie in the stands and saw her clapping her hands and cheering.
As J'ren bonded with Trofasth, he ignored the two greens make for their riders. He also missed the arrival of the white and the blue and white dragons. He still had eyes only for Trofasth but he felt the others' joy mirrored in himself. Finally, all the dragons had Impressed their riders and the happy families streamed out of the stands to congratulate the new riders. Bri'onie shot out of the stands and gave J'ren a big hug as Trofasth looked on, a bit confused.
"Bri'onie, this is Trofasth," J'ren said proudly, turning her to face the blue dragon. Just then, Bri'onie heard R'vfen's bellow from the entrance to the Grounds. She hugged J'ren a last time and bowed to Trofasth. She gave J'ren a little push in the direction of the entrance saying, "The weyrlingmaster calls. Oh, J'ren, by the way, as long as you're dragon is still young, we can't continue our relationship as we have. We need to back off a little. Might hurt the dragon and you won't have time." J'ren nodded and waited for Trofasth to catch up. The little dragon was very curious about the weyrlingmaster and asked, "What does he want? Why are we following?" J'ren laughed and explained that each dragon and rider had to go through drills.
He had barely finished his last word when R'vfen clapped him on the back saying, "Exactly! You and your dragon must learn the skills to fight Thread. You, J'ren, must also learn how to care for your dragon. Come, you have much to learn." J'ren and Trofasth followed the happy dragonrider out of the Grounds, determined to learn as much as they can and feed the hungry Trofasth.
A few days later, Bri'onie found a tired J'ren studying diagrams in his weyr. Trofasth was drowsing contentedly on his couch in the next room and Bri'onie slid into the chair next to J'ren. She looked at the diagrams he was studying and smiled. She recognized the patterns from her time as a weyrling under R'vfen. J'ren looked up at her and smiled back. He pointed to the papers and said, "Always did study better when I could see what I'm supposed to be memorizing."
Bri'onie gripped his shoulder in sympathy and said, "It gets easier. Many of the patterns are similar. Just keep at it. How's Trofasth?" J'ren looked over to the room the little blue was drowsing in and replied, "He's getting bigger and he eats much. Every day it seems like there's new places for me to oil." Bri'onie laughed at his wry tone and stood up to look in on the blue. J'ren went back to studying after a long yawn.
Bri'onie looked at J'ren with affection in her eyes as he mumbled the patterns of flight to himself. She looked at the other papers on the desk and saw that some were hand-drawn pictures. She picked one up and saw that it was a good rendering of the courtyard at J'ren's home. He heard the shuffle of paper and looked up. He noticed the one she held and said, "R'vfen's had me practicing imaging places for Trofasth. I draw and think of it and he repeats the image back to me." Bri'onie nodded and placed the paper back down.
Sitting down again, Bri'onie said, "Trofasth grows quickly. Soon, you two will be able to fly. It's the greatest feeling in the world, riding a flaming dragon." J'ren smiled at the nostalgia in her voice and asked, "How is Praeth? She looked very bright today, when I saw her flying." Bri'onie grinned, always loving to talk about her dragon. The two spent a couple companionable hours, remembering past training and talking of their dragons.
