M'lek and Ferth's Record
M'lek's Background and Ferth's Hatching As I climbed down from the back of a blue dragon who had brought me to the hatching at Dawn Sisters Weyr, I graciously thanked him and his rider. Turning towards the sands, I noticed the weyrfolk in preparation for the celebration. The dragons had begun their tell-tale hum, and the candidates were beginning to gather on the sands. I was captivated by the gentle beauty of the dragons who had come to witness this special event. Grateful myself for the invitation to come to this hatching, I started making my way towards the sands. All of a sudden I collided with a young man who was obviously in a hurry. "Oh, excuse me!" he exclaimed. "My name is Malek, and if I don't hurry I may miss the Impressions all together!" Malek appeared to be about 17 turns. He was dressed in the traditional white tunic of the candidates and I knew he had just finished bathing by the look of his dark, curly, dripping locks of hair. He was of medium height, and beginning to look more like a man than a boy. "I don't have much time, we've been instructed to gather at the sands." "I can tell you how I was found on Search if you can keep up." Quickly I followed as Malek began his story.... "I was working in the minorcraft as an apprentice. My parents had fostered me out to learn a trade at the age of 12 turns. They were nice enough to let me pick the minorcraft. You see, there we got to work with the earth. It was a treasure hunt to find everything. We worked hard, twelve hour days, but I loved every minute of it. Most recently I have been mining gems. I know how to tell topaz from garnet and saphire from turquoise! The Masterminer sent me with a shipment of gems to this weyr and when I arrived, the Gold Queen Gillith had just clutched. The dragonriders were on search and that Blue you came in on picked me as a candidate." "Here at last," Malek finished quickly. He then darted off to his place with the rest of the candidates on the hot sands while I took a seat. Just as all the candidates have arrived, the eggs begin rocking more and more. Suddenly, one brave hatchling escapes his shell. It's was a bronze! A very big bronze for a hatchling! Eagerly I watched to see which candidate the new dragon would choose. To my delight the tiny bronze picked Malek! "He says his name is Ferth!" Malek shouted from the sands with delight! As Malek escorted Ferth from the hatching sands in search of some food for the hungry hatchling, I quickly followed. "Malek!" I shouted, "Congratulations!" Turning slightly, the modest young man replied, "You mean M'lek! And it was Ferth here that should be congratulated. He, of course, did the hatching." Smiling, I agreed and bid them both farewell.
A Hatchling's First Bath One morning I was taking a stroll around the Weyr. From the distance I could see the struggle at the lake - one very new "dragonrider" in his first attempt to bathe a large hatchling. I could tell that it was young M'lek and Bronze Ferth. By the look of the tenderness M'lek showed the young dragon, I knew that a strong bond had developed between them. As I drew closer I could make out M'lek's voice. "Ferth, hold still. This is no time for play." Just then, Ferth dove out of his reach and sent a wave of water cascading over the young man, and totally drenching him. Unable to hold it in any longer, I exploded into laughter at the sceen. Hearing me. M'lek looked up and asked, "Have you ever bathed a hatchling before?" obviously quite hopeless, and trying not to laugh himself. "It seems that Ferth is in a playful mood and would rather bathe me." "I can see that," I answered, trying to gain my composure, "and no, I have never had the priveledge of bathing a hatchling." As they both waded out of the water, I could see that Ferth's brilliant bronze hide was clean, drying, and in need of oiling..
"If you'd like to help me oil Ferth's hide when he dries off I'd be very grateful," M'lek responded. "Certainly," I agreed. I watched as M'lek received communication from Ferth. "Ferth says that if you would be kind enough to help oil his hide, it will be less time before he gets to eat!"
Testing his Wings In my stroll around the weyr I looked up to see a bronze dragonet stretching his wings for what looks to be one of only a few times in his life. Carefully he landed and only stumbled a little. Instantly he was joined by his rider, M'lek, and I knew that the young aviator was Ferth. The dragonet has just recently been oiled and as I drew closer, I saw that he was now very large - larger than the rest of the dragonets except for the new queen. "Well done!" you congratulate approaching the two. "It looks like you have been practicing. "Ferth is learning well," praised M'lek, "I remember the first day he tested his wings. All of the weyrlings were practicing together. Not one of them could stay airborn for more than a few seconds and then a brown made it for over a minute! Well, Ferth, according to him, couldn't be shown up by a brown so he practiced until he could do it too. It's now been a sevenday and all the dragonet's are doing quite well, although they all have their scrapes and bruises "
"How long do you think it will be before you can ride Ferth?" I asked. As Ferths eyes whirled blue with contentment, and I realized that he was communicating with M'lek. "Ferth thinks he is strong enough to carry me now." M'lek relayed with a grin, "But I know the weyrlingmaster would have both our hides if we pulled that trick.
Between Some of the Weyrlings after only a few sevenday flying between seem to think they are invincible. Lucky for M'lek and his bronze Ferth, they didn't dissapear completely. After much proding I was able to get M'lek to write down his experience. My hope in keeping a record of this is to make future weyrlings aware of the dangers and concequences. "Ferth and I were in practice with the other werylings. We had been flying together for about a sevenday so far and the werywoman came to ask if we would carry a message to Dormav Hold. Being only a couple of hours away, we agreed. We were restricted to flying strait - no between jumps permitted." "It was the longest two hours flying together, but it was so wonderful riding on Ferth's back. After delivering the message, we started our long journey back to the weyr." "About a half an hour into the return trip, Ferth suggested we go between and get back so that he could eat and bathe before the afternoon lessons. A agreed after he assurred me he knew the way. I had only felt the cold of between a few times in my life and I think that time was the longest. What relief I felt when we came out high in the air above our own weyr. We had made it." "After the chastisement of the weyrwoman for such a foolish act of such a young dragon and rider we were permitted to join the werylings again. After all, it took as much time to receive the "talking to" as it would have to "fly strait."
Threadfall Coming out of between above the Weyr bowl, M'lek was humbled once again at the sight of dragonriders returning from a successful flight against thread. With bronze Ferth, now a full size dragon, they had just led their wing for the first time. Luckily there were few threadscores in their group and they both had returned unscathed. As they began their descent M'lek asked, "Well, Ferth, what did you think of our first threadfall as Wingleaders?" "We fought well. I flamed every clump within reach," the baritone voice of Ferth sounded in M'lek's mind, "I'm ready to catch a few wherries and a herdbeast. I'm famished!" "Don't forget, Zalideth should rise soon and you don't want to be left behind because you ate one too many wherries!" M'lek cationed. "I'm almost as big as she is and the largest bronze to be shelled yet!" Ferth reminded him. Landing by the lake where Ferth had had his first bath (read the story in the records room) M'lek moved quickly to bathe in the cool, clear water while Ferth snatched up a snack from the Weyrherds. |
