Tzeado, male from Caledrus Hold

What has gone before:

Tzeado, Aaryea and Joser have chosen to go to Enzan Shi to bond. Their wait on the sands has finally come to an end!

These are Julius and Jackie

Julius was from Silvermoon weyr, and Jackie from Emerald. Neither weyr exists any longer.

The working environment that Tzeado found at Enzan Shi was a good one. He was allowed to hunt and guard, along with his duties of learning about dragons and their care. It wasn't long however before everyone heard an excited and somewhat distressed bugling from the sands. It was the mother of the clutch, Akyoth, going off about something. It turned into a hurried gathering of all the candidates - and Tzeado noticed that many other younger folk at the place had also been brought onto the sands. Was something going on?

It didn't much matter. There were sevral eggs turning about, and the female bronze guarding them looked on proudly - but with a little worry on her noble eyes. The egg which broke open first was a bronze, almost the same color as she, but he wedged himself butt-first out of the shell and managed to stick his head firmly into the shell.

I don't like this egg so much, anymore, he muttered, and there was a ripple of laughter from people in the audience. He was oblivious, but ... Tzeado perked up.

There was something very graceful about the dragon once he'd cleared himself out of the egg (dropping onto the sands with his wet hide collecting a batch of fine grains). The crowd hadn't seen what a great color he was until he'd shattered the egg from his head and began to walk without a stumble toward the candidates. They cheered, and Tzeado presumed they were doing so because he'd bonded.

The dragonet strutted forward, you knew I could do it, didn't you, Tz'o?

"Of course I did, Xakyth," the new rider - BRONZE rider - puffed up and smiled. They left the sands first, the bronze shaking off the rest of the sand from his glossy hide, and any mystery about why so many more candidates were brought to the sands was only answered much later on. Tz'o didn't care in the slightest at that moment. All he cared about was that his Xakyth was hungry and needed a good bath.

***

In the months that went by following the hatching, Tz'o and J'ser kept a careful eye on Aaryea. She hadn't impressed, and she was, like the other group of gold-worthy candidates, crushed that the single gold that had hatched didn't bother to choose any of them. But she seemed in good spirits most of the time, and was willing to help with the weyrlings as they progressed from feeding to hunting.

"They sure do like to run," Aaryea commented, and Tz'o nodded.

"Yes and pretty soon they're going to want to fly." He said proudly.

Aaryea got a gleam in her eye, "you're thinking that Xakyth is going to be the first up there?" She nodded at the sleek bronze.

"Well -" Tz'o said with a start, and then his eyes found that not only had Xakyth not been first into the air, he didn't even look like he wanted to be. Two blues and one of the odd exotically colored rares had done it first, spreading their wings and catching the updrafts from the base of the parade fields. "That's that," he chuckled.

"He'll be first at something, other than hatching," Aaryea assured him, and then moved on to where J'ser was tending his brown.

Tz'o watched her with interest, they were both young, and he knew that she was from a good family. Her expectations of impressing a gold had fallen through - but for how long?

You like her, Xakyth said, butting his large head against Tz'o's shoulder and nearly knocking him over.

"Of course I do, who wouldn't? She's a brave girl, why don't you tell that gold about her?" Tz'o said, looking at the ridge where the unbonded gold sunned herself.

You want me to tell a gold what she's missing out on? Are you crazy? The bronze replied, you do it yourself... I am going to catch some fish.

"Why don't you catch some air instead?" Pleaded Tz'o, but to no avail, the weyrling didn't start flying for another week.

***

When Aaryea was standing on the sands again, with her pretty little Sandy myph to accompany her, Xakyth and he were busy flying over the great stony cliffs near Enzan Shi. He and several other riders wanted to get a bit of practice in group flying and tactics, so they'd teamed up and were paired off - one side attacking, the other defending. Their mock fights drew a crowd, but they weren't told to stop.

"This was a great idea!" Tz'o yelled to the other bronze riders, "what say we tell those blue riders who's boss?"

Laughing, the troupe of dragon riders grazed the batch of smaller dragons, who then responded rather like a mocking bird would to a raven: by ganging up on them and harrassing them to the ground!

Who's turn is it to laugh now? Said one boldly, and Xakyth snarled at him.

You caught us this time, but when we return... your dens are ours!

They flew off, their 'mission' a failure but their exersize a success. This is a great game, Xakyth told Tz'o. I hope we can keep playing it when we get home.

"Home..." Tz'o said. "You know I ... think we should wait for Aaryea."

You really do like her, Xakyth said, well I hope she does bond eventually. But you know that I am grown enough to fly for my own sweethearts...

"Are you saying that you know of a place to go?" Tz'o said.

Oh that changed your mind, did it? Xakyth chuckled. I think I will try finding one, that's for sure...

***

next