"No! Please stop! Don't do that! Wait!" Luckily for Roden, Lord Holder Merwin decided to intervene on his behalf.
"Children, sit and be quiet. NOW!" The room immediately silenced. The children of Nyterwyrm Hold sat obeidiantly, showing no signs of any relation to the chaos that had been resent when the Lord Holder entered.
Roden sighed an dpushed his glasses back to their rightful spot on the bridge of his nose. He sunk inot his chair and put his head in his hands. He had a headache.
Lord Merwin looked down on the young harper with disdain. "Will there be any more problems?" His tone showed his lack of respect for Roden in general.
The Harper sighed again. "No." He glared at the children. "There shouldn't be."
Merwin nodded once then left, closing the door to the school room behind him. As soon as he was out of earshot, the chaos returned. Roden patiently tried to deal with the kids, but they wouldn't listen to reason...or Roden. He dodged pieces of chalk and insults alike as he attepted to teach.
Roden had only been at Nyterwyrm for a couple seven-day. Their Harper had decided he'd had enough of the large Hold and asked to be reassigned. He'd been moved to Adanuk Weyr and Roden had been stuck here.
The young Harper flopped down in his chair again, defeated. "Class dismissed!"
A cheer rose from amoung the kids as they quickly filed out, leaving Roden with some peace. He quickly got up, locked the door and opened the shutters. While school was in session he was required to keep them closed, but, if there was no Thread expected any time soon, he like to keep them open. The fresh breeze seemed to help with his headache.
"Roden!" It was Merwin. "Are you in there?"
He probably wants to know why I let the children out early. Upon realizing that fact and dicovering that he had not good explanation, Roden pretended he wasn't there. Merwin rattled the door a bit, but quickly left. Roden dreaded meeting him later on. He cleaned up his classroom, made sure no one was coming, and quickly escaped to his room.
Roden removed his shoes and flopped down into a soft chair, one he'd brought with him from the Hall he'd studied at. When his master had found out that he was being sent to teach straight only a few days after he'd walked the tables, the man gave him this chair. Roden smiled, remembering his teacher's words. "Shards' lad! You're going to need this."
Roden sighed. "Why?" He asked no one. "Why can't I handle those children?" He laid back and closed his eyes, keeping up the one-sided conversation. "Is it because I'm not Merwin? Or maybe because Merwin doesn't respect me?" Roden snorted. "But why should he? He'd big, powerful, strong Lord Holder Merwin and look at me! Just look at me. What am I? Nothing. Not in his eyes." Roden leapt to his feet and examined himself in the mirror. He was of average height, but scrawny. He was often told he resembled a scarecrow. His hair was actually yellow, not blond, yellow and it tended to stick out in whatever direction it wanted to. His eyes were a boring brown. His arms looked too long and his legs seemed to short. He was entirely out of proportion.
"You are not entirely out of proportion." Kiya always seemed to be able to read his mind. She was the daughter of one of the higher ranking families here and easily one of the more beautiful women in the Hold. She was also one of the few people who'd talk to him.
"How sure are you?" Roden looked sceptically at her.
"Positive." She laughed. Her hair was a beautiful dark brown and it always seemed to glisten in the sun. Her eyes were a deep green and her skin was fair. She brightened the room simply by entering it...or at least it seemed that was to Roden. "You need more self-confidence Harper. Then the children will listen." She put her hands on his shoulders and led him to his chair.
Roden sat down. "How should I go about getting more self-confidence then?" He couldn't help smirking as an idea struck him. "Beat up the Lord Holder?"
Kiya laughed. He loved it when he made her laugh. "If you think you can...but you don't really think you can, do you?" She realized that sentance made little sense and tried to repharse it. "I think you could take Lord Merwin if you believed in yourself."
"You have a lot of faith in the power of the mind." Roden was sceptical.
"I do. I know I do. I believe I do." She smiled.
"How?" Roden asked her, transfixed by her eyes.
"It's all in how you look at a thing Roden." She moved to sit on the arm of his chair. "If you keep looking at the bright side, things seem brighter."
Roden sighed. "Lord Merwin's going to kill me."
Kiya swatted him. "That's the bad side."
"Then what's the bright side?"
Kiya smiled softly. Roden knew her well enough to know that she was about to make him laugh. "If you're dead you won't have to deal with the children anymore."
The two laughed and sat on the old, beaten up chair watching some flits play outside. Neither of them spoke for a few minutes, mesmerized by the beautiful miniature dragons.
"They're really beautiful." Kiya finally broke the silence, startling Roden.
"No wonder so many songs have been written about them..." Roden wished his voice didn't sound so harsh, compared to hers. "...and dragons."
"Ever seen a dragon Roden?" Kiya didn't seem to mind his voice.
"Yeah. I rode one here." He liked impressing her.
"That must have been amazing. The closest I've ever been to one seeing them above at Threadfall." She stood up and walked to the window. "I think the firelizards are in trouble or something."
"Really?" Roden had been watching Kiya and not the flits anymore. He quickly joined her at the window. "Your right." The firelizards were all flying around the same spot, and chirping...and humming.... Roden put the three clues together. "Kiya! They're not in trouble. They're having a hatching!"
"Let's go down!" Kiya grabbed both his hands in hers, not noticing how red he went. "I'll get some meat." She headed for the door. "Don't tell anyone Roden! This will be our secret!"
Roden sighed happily as she disappeared through the door. "I have a secret with Kiya..." He was momentarily rooted to the spot with happiness. The humming getting louder finally returned him to reality. "The flits!" He rushed down out the door after Kiya.
* * * "How did you get that meat without people asking you questions?" Roden knelt beside Kiya as close to the eggs as the angry firelizard queen would let them get.
"I didn't." Kiya smiled. "Iona asked me all sorts of questions, I just faked some answers."
Roden pretended to act shocked. "You lied to the Master of the Servants?"
Kiya laughed. "Doesn't everyone? Look! They're hatching!" Sure enough, the small eggs had begun to crack. Roden had never been to a dragon hatching, but he knew that it was nothing like this. Most of the little creatures didn't even bother coming over to them, even though they had meat. He watched them begin to fly away and felt his heart sink. They came all the way out here and they weren't going to get a flit. His attention was drawn back to the flits still on the ground by Kiya's sharp intake of breath. He looked at her and she bit her lip, nodding towards the ground. There sat a blue firelizard, edging towards the meat. For a second Roden forgot what he was supposed to do, but a pinch from Kiya got him moving. He picked up some of the raw meat, noticing how squishy it felt in his hand, and stuck it under the flits nose. At first the flit seemed startled and started to back away, but soon it was eating from Roden's hand and the Harper could feel the flit's tiny mind reaching for his.
Kiya squeezed his arm and smiled at him. "Congrats!" She examined the tiny blue creature.
Roden, caught up in the impression of the blue firelizard, hadn't realized that Kiya was watching him instead of trying to nab her own flit. "Kiya..." He realized that she could have taken the blue, but she'd let him have it.
Kiya read the expression on his face and smiled. "It's okay Roden. I don't mind. What are you going to call him?"
"I don't know." He stroked the blue's head. "And even if it is okay, I feel bad. I should have been paying attention."
Kiya laughed. "You mean I should have been paying attention. I'm the one who watched you instead of the flits."
"Are all the flits gone?" Roden looked across the shattered shells, looking for a whole one.
Kiya half-smiled and looked with him. "I think so..." She trailed off as she saw movement from under the egg shells. "But they might not all be gone..." She got up and carefully walked over to the movement. She bent down and smiled happily to herself.
Roden was distracted temporarily by the blue in his hands trying to get at the meat, but when he looked up again he found Kiya beside him with a tiny golden flit in her hands. He stared at the abnormally small queen and then at Kiya. "What?"
"I know." Kiya smiled as she fed her tiny pet. "I saw the other, bigger golden hatchling fly away too. I didn't know that flit clutchs could have two queens, although she is really tiny."
"She's beautiful." Roden smiled. "Congrats."
Kiya laughed. "Deja-vu." The little queen proved that she was not an over-sight by biting Kiya's fingers. The girl only laughed.
Roden stared at her for a minute. She's so beautiful...and she never gets angry...and...OW! The little blue drew him back into reality by copying the actions of his older sister. "Fine! Eat more!" Roden gave the flit a little more food, but not too much. He didn't want to gorge his pet.
"So what are you going to call him?" Kiya asked again as they sat beside each other, flits curled asleep in their laps.
"Oshieru." Roden smiled. "It means to teach."
"It's pretty." Kiya smiled back. "I think this little queen will by Chijou."
"Why?" Roden wondered if the word meant anything.
"Because it sounds nice." Kiya stroked the gold's back. "And she looks like a Chijou."
Roden laughed, then yawned. "I think we'd better be getting back. Someone might start to wonder where you are." He couldn't help stressing the fact that he was pretty much unwanted around the Hold.
Kiya gave him a sympathetic half-smile. "Things will get better. You'll see."
"They will?" Roden helped Kiya to her feet.
"Of course." They walked back to the Hold together. "Just show the Merwin, and the children, who's boss."
Roden couldn't help asking. "Who is boss?"
Kiya smirked and glared at him. "I am." She swatted him.
* * * Roden sat in his desk in the classroom with screaming children all around him. He put his hands to his temples and sighed. "So much for showing them who's the boss."
The hatchling firelizard creeled from his position in one of the drawers, but since it was already way too loud in the small room, nobody heard. Roden felt more than heard the creel and knew that Oshieru was hungry. His stomach agreed with the flit. "Class!" Roden rose to his feet and struggled to yell over the noise of the children. "Dismissed for lunch!!" The room emptied in seconds so no one heard the second part of that sentance. "Be back in two candlemarks!" Roden sighed. Locked up the room and took his new flit to lunch.
"Yours too?" Kiya whispered in his ear, startling him. He hadn't heard her approach.
Roden simply nodded. They'd decided to keep Oshieru and Chijou a secret for as long as possible, long enough for the impression to stick incase Lord Merwin decided he didn't want them having firelizards.
Kiya grinned, she obviously had a plan. "I'll grab a basket and some food if you get two runners." Roden looked at her blankly and she laughed again. "We'll have a picnic. Disappear for the afternoon."
"I have classes..." Roden trailed off realizing that none of the children would probably show up and he really wanted to leave for the afternoon with Kiya.
Kiya poked her finger into his chest. "Cancel them. I'll be down at the stables in a few minutes, you'd better have the runners ready. Or else."
"Or else what?" Roden yelled after her quickly disappearing back.
"I'll make you carry me." Roden laughed.
* * * "Do you think she likes me Oshi?" Roden stood with the beasts waiting for Kiya to return. "I mean normally she tried to avoid all the men of the Hold, her father is marrying her off to another Lord's son after all."
He didn't know why he was explaining this to a two day old hatchling flit, yet Oshieru seemed to understand. He cocked his head and cheeped once.
Roden smirked, until a new thought entered his mind. "Maybe she won't even show up. Maybe she's just setting me up so I can make a fool of myself."
Oshieru stared intently at Roden.
"Or maybe she just sees me as non-threatening, friend-like...you know. She might not even like me like that!" Roden was amazed at how the blue flit followed him as he paced, head turning eyes always intent on Roden's face...or a spot right above his head. Roden sat down and watched the flit for a second. Finally he sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "So, what do you think?"
"I think he thinks he wants the meat." Kiya's voice startled him for the second time that day.
Roden whirled around to find the Holder's daughter standing right behind him with some meat in her hand. Oshieru had been watching the food. "How...Why...What...." Roden trailed off, confused. "How long have you been standing there!?" What if she heard everything I said?
Kiya smirked. "Not long. I see you got the runners. Good move. I'm heavier than I look."
Roden tried to laugh, but since it was forced it sounded very odd. He was still worried about if she was going to run away from him and hide now that she knew how he felt about her...maybe. "I got the runners."
Kiya couldn't help smiling at his comment. He was nervous and didn't trust himself to say anything that wasn't blatently obvious. "I can see why you're the teacher."
Note to self: Think before you speak! Without saying another word Roden mounted the runner and called Oshieru to him. The blue flit happily winked between and reappeared on his master's shoulder.
Kiya mounted the other runner and fed Chijou a piece of meat. Oshieru quickly leapt to the girl's other shoulder and nipped at her fingers. Kiya laughed. "You can tell where a flit's heart lies."
"Close to it's stomach." Roden smiled. "Where do you want to go?"
The woman glanced up at one of the Hold windows. "Away. Anywhere away." She quickly realized that she was acting slightly suspicious and smiled warmly at Roden. "I'm sure you must know someplace with a view."
Roden glanced up towards where Kiya had been looking, but he couldn't see anything. He paused a moment in thought, deciding whether to pry or leave well enough alone. "I have just the spot." He kicked the runner into a trot, Kiya close behind him.
They rode in silence for a few minutes, neither one wanting to say something that they might regret later. Roden was afraid that if he pried, Kiya would leave. Kiya was afraid that if she didn't explain herself, Roden would think she didn't trust him. After they'd stopped at a nice spot near the river, they both finally decided to say something...at the same time.
"Kiya, I don't want to seem nosy but..."
"Roden, look I want to explain..."
Another moment of silence followed, both of them blushing and wondering whether they were supposed to go first. Finally Kiya cracked. "This is silly. I have no idea why I suddenly feel so akward around you. You've always been like a big brother...." The girl trailed off as she realized she wasn't exactly saying what she meant.
Big brother... Roden inwardly cringed. You don't fall in love with your big brother. "That's okay...I know what you meant."
"'Shards sake!!" Kiya, the normally calm, cool controled young noblewoman, got frustrated. "You have no idea what I'm talking about because I'm not talking about it right." The girl, mind finally made up, leaned in close to Roden. "I'm almost 19 turns, my father is a rather influencial person in the Hold and he wants to marry me off to some distant Holder. I don't want to marry him."
Roden, unnerved by her closeness, blushed and stammered. "I-I-I can s-see why you'd be...u-upset." He gulped. "W-w-who d-d-do you w-want to m-marry?" He knew the question was probably suicide.
To his amazement, Kiya smiled. "Guess." She'd regained her normal calmness and Roden was almost falling apart.
"Ummm...." Roden was wide-eyed. "I-I-I..." Kiya kissed him, finally stopping the stuttering. "Oh."
Chijou and Oshieru began to play in the air over their masters heads.
* * * The Harper entered his classroom the next day to whispers and funny looks. More than one person had seen him return with the Lady Kiya. More than one person had their suspissions. "Class, quiet." He ordered them like he always did, they never listened. Roden smirked, lifted a drumstick and brought it down hard on his desk, snapping the stick. The room was silent. The power of self-confidence... Roden smiled to himself. Kiya was right...
* * * "Where?" Lord Holder Merwin looked the green-rider over again, the name of the weyr she claimed to be from was not familiar to him.
Searchrider Tarymi smiled. "Mountain's Note Weyr. It's not very big, but I'm riding on search for our Sr. Queen's clutch."
"Really." The Lord Holder hadn't remained in power for so long by being very trusting.
Tarymi continued to smile confidently. And I don't get candidates by taking no for an answer. "Certainly it wouldn't hurt to just let me look around. I'll be gone in a candlemark."
Merwin glared at her, upset at the thought of another powerful person in his Hold. "Fine."
* * * Nice to see everyone's being so co-operative. The general populace of Nyterwyrm Hold was avoiding Tarymi and her frosted green Zironath like the plague.
It's okay. We can ignore the stuck up inhabitants, I think I've found someone. The green snorted at a boy who came to close to her.
Be nice! Tarymi advised. If all Searchdragons acted like you're acting, it's no wonder they don't want us here. The Searchrider smiled at the young boy. He waved to show there were no hard feelings. Who've you found?
Him. Zironath directed her rider's attention towards a rather homely looking man. The rider couldn't help raising a brow. Talk to him, don't stare at him.
Okay, okay. I'm going. "Hey!" She ran towards him. "Hey. Can I have a word with you?"
Roden turned to look at her. "Sure Dragonrider." He smiled, his mind obviously elsewhere. "I'm Roden."
"Searchrider Tarymi from Mountain's Note Weyr." The rider paused a moment to see if her dragon had anything to say. "People around here aren't really dragon friendly."
Roden smiled, still confused as to why she was talking to him. "Lord Holder Merwin spreads wonderful propaganda about Adanuk Weyr, the Weyr that watches over us. He says that they're ripping us off. Mainly he just doesn't like anyone who has more power than he does."
Zironath's eyes whirled blue, obviously amused at the comment. Care to show him up? Tell him that you're going to Moutain's Note Weyr to impress.
Roden's jaw just about fell off. "Wha-wha-what?"
Tarymi smiled. "Congratulations. Grab a few things and meet me at Lord Merwin's office. I'd like to get out of here as quickly as possible." The Searchrider noticed that Roden didn't exactly look over-joyed. "What? Is something wrong?"
"N-no...I just...I mean she'll understand..." Roden took a deep breath, trying to sort his thoughts out. "I'd be honoured to accompany you to Mountain's Note Weyr. But I'll need a bit of time."
"Fine." Tarymi was relieved that he agreed to come. "Meet me in half a candlemark."
"That'll be fine." Roden hurried towards Kiya's room.
* * * "Where is she?" Roden paced the hallways, searching desperately for Kiya. Oshi flew behind him, after having been shaken from his secure perch on Roden's shoulder by the frantic Harper's fast pace. "Where could she have gone too?"
Oshieru chirped once to remind the soon-to-be candidate that he was already late for his meeting with the Searchrider.
Roden sighed. "I know Oshi, I know, but I can't just leave without telling her where I went. I just got her..." The blue landed on his master's shoulder and rubbed his head in his uncontrolable blond hair. Roden sighed. "I guess I'll have to talk to her later." He dejectedly made his way towards Merwin's office.
* * * "There you are." Tarymi greeted him with a handshake. "You're late."
"I couldn't find someone." Roden wasn't as happy as he would have been had he found Kiya.
"Who?" The elusive woman smiled at him. "Me?"
"What are you doing here?" Roden was going to die of a heartattack if he kept getting these surprises.
Chijou flew to Roden's shoulder and pecked at his ear. Kiya laughed. "I'm Searched."
"NO!" Lord Holder Merwin slammed his fist down on the table. "You are not taking my niece and my Harper."
"I don't think I can seperate them." Tarymi smiled.
"What?" Merwin didn't take a hint very well.
Kiya smiled, leapt into Roden's arms and kissed him. Tarymi smiled. Merwin went white.
"Impossible...Kiya! Get off him!" Merwin hadn't made a move.
"Sorry Uncle. I'll write you." The three began to leave, Kiya and Roden arm in arm.
"This is impossible!!" Merwin ran to the door and watched them walking down the hall. "I demand you come back!!"
Roden smiled happily to himself. "He doesn't do well with the concept of him not being in control, does he?"
"Don't touch my niece!"
Kiya rested her head on Roden's shoulder. "No he doesn't."
* * *
Roden is a candidate at Mountain's Note Weyr.
Oshieru's picture is from Dark Moon Weyr.
Background from Enchanted Backgrounds.
