Chap 22 The Rising Green

Chap 22 The Rising Green

K'ndar felt Raventh's restlessness the moment he awoke.

The dragon's head snaked back and forth, as if an insect was annoying him.

The brown shuffled out of their weyr and plopped down on the sand, looking out to sea. But he saw it not. He spread his wings out, as if preparing to fly, then folded them again.

What's wrong? Are you okay? he asked.

 I don't know Raventh responded. He strode down to the surf, walked into it a ways, then turned about and came back. 

It is something I don't understand. I want to do something but it is not fishing or swimming, or hunting or eating, it's something that makes me want to do something but I don't know what

K'ndar began to panic, then, running a practiced eye over his dragon, realized there was nothing physically wrong. He calmed.

Do you hurt? Are you hungry? Itchy?

 

No. I ate yesterday. Early this morning I went between. I am not itchy but I am itchy in a way I have never felt before

The brown paced back and forth.

K'ndar raced to dress. Any thoughts of breakfast were banished. The dragon lay back down, watching the sea. This reassured K'ndar.

Oh Raventh said, in a more normal tone of voice. It was obviously said in response to someone other than K'ndar.

 What? What is it?

 I asked Banarth. It is Sinith. She rises to mate today

Sinith was one of the adult greens, K'ndar struggled to remember.  He felt better, now. He knew that in a little while, all the male dragons would head skyward, seeking to mate the green.

Well, he thought, this being a rest day, it would probably be a show to watch.

This is normal for a handsome lizard like you he said, knowing it would set his dragon right, I am going to get something to eat. 

All of the males are saying they are going to fly after her. But what they do then I don't know. 

It's okay. It's a mating flight. It's how the gold or green makes eggs. Don't worry, you're too young to mate. If you do go up, be careful, it will be very crowded K'ndar explained, as if to a small child. He felt almost paternal, despite never having seen a mating flight, either.

 He felt reassured. In the private corner of his mind, the one spot where Raventh had never entered, he knew a juvenile male had no chance whatsoever of actually mating, but he'd undoubtedly at least go skyward. He'd probably hang on the edges of the resulting scrum. 

The greens would love to have a bronze, but would mate with anyone except for a juvenile of any color. They wanted experienced male dragons with status, not just juvenile ambition.

They laid eggs after mating but the eggs never hatched. It was thought that eating firestone prevented the eggs from being viable, which is why golds were never allowed to eat firestone. But he knew that green fire lizards laid viable eggs. So perhaps the theory was true. 

K'ndar headed for the dining hall. It was full of early risers, redolent with the aroma of breakfast and freshly baked bread. Many of the wing riders had been awakened, just as he had been, by their male dragons' agitation. Sinith's rider was NOT there. She was staying in her weyr with C'val, her blue rider weyrmate. 

B'rant, the Weyrlingmaster, was there, as were his classmates.

He gathered a hefty breakfast and sat at the end of the table where his mates were listening to B'rant.

"It can get hectic, with all the males jockeying for a chance," he was saying, "but no, I don't think I've ever heard of one getting hurt in the melee. The dragonets hang on the outskirts of the crowd. Ah, K'ndar, good morning, my lad, have a seat. Raventh is already claiming success with Sinith, no doubt?" he said.

The others laughed. "Aye, sir, ""all the greens love him, don't you know?" someone said, mimicking K'ndar's steppe accent and way of speaking. He laughed in return. Raventh had a reputation for boasting. 

"Believe it or not, he did NOT say that this morning. He's confused, he knows he is expected to rise with the rest of the males, but he has no idea what to do once he's up there."

"That's normal, for dragons," B'rant said. "They're like colts and calves…they have to watch the adults mate before they figure out what to do." 

He looked around, seeing many adult men standing, looking distracted and agitated, like their dragons. Only the women were calm. Female dragons set the tune of the dance, not the males, and only the one in heat actually 'rose'. 

"Sinith is choosy, for a green. In the past she's always mated with C'val's blue. It may be because Rastabenth, being her weyrmate, just knows ahead of every other dragon when she's about to launch. But," he said, taking a pull on his klah and enjoying that his Werylings were hanging on his every word, "but, in my humble opinion, I like to think that there may be an emotional bond that they share with their weyrmates. We all know of golds who will only mate with a specific bronze, and as far as I've seen, it's their human weyrmates who are also bonded. Even so, when the greens are about to mate, they still broadcast to everyone in the vicinity. And most lead the males a merry chase."

Two of his Weyrlings there were girls, and they both smirked at their male counterparts. One was about to make a smart remark when everyone felt a sudden jolt from their dragon. 

Every free male dragon leaped into the sky, following Sinith, who was several dragonlengths in the sky already. Rastabenth was right behind her, no more than a dragon length behind her. 

Raventh, confused, waited on the beach until he saw his male clutchmates go up, then jumped into the sky. He'd never seen such a melee of dragons, all chasing the green and not caring if they cut off another dragon. He wasn't sexually mature, he didn't know that he had not a clue of what to do up there. But it was What Male Dragons Did.

And, as K'ndar had surmised, Raventh found himself too intimidated by the ranking, mature males around him. Even a blue could bluster him from even closing on the green. A large cluster of males were darting everywhere, trying to cut others off, trying to catch the green.

Raventh and his clutchmates were unceremoniously and expertly relegated to the margins of the cloud. Their hormones, ones that had goaded them into joining the scrum, went unhelpfully silent on what to do once they got there. Like horses, dragons had to observe mating behavior in order to learn how.

On the ground, the male dragonriders, except the weyrlings, and B'rant, were suddenly absent from their dining hall seats. B'rant was happily married to a non dragon rider and had no desire to be with anyone but her.

K'ndar and his male classmates, were equally aroused and confused. K'ndar found himself stimulated in an odd yet familiar way. He squashed it flat. This was dragon mating.  Raventh wasn't in the white hot heat that the mature males (and their riders) were. K'ndar, while sexually mature, was still unsure of himself when dealing with the opposite sex, no matter how inviting the girl may be. He bore no illusions that he had any chance whatsoever with Sinith's rider. 

That, and, of course, being a weyrling, he was forbidden from having relations within anyone until he graduated. He was grateful for the restriction, it gave him a good reason to not join the other men in their dragon inspired urge.

He had other things to keep his mind and body occupied.

He suddenly understood something very profound about himself. He had wanted to impress a brown, but had never really been able to elucidate why. Most boys wanted a bronze. It was a status few ever achieved. A bronze rider was the highest rank of all male riders. They became the weyrleaders. They were respected all over Pern. They were on the same level as any Master or Holder.

That was it. 

Bronze riders became Weyrleaders.

He was glad no one could hear his thoughts but Raventh, who was much too distracted to interject.

 He realized he didn't want the responsibilities that came with being a Weyrleader. On the few occasions he'd seen his Weyrleader, D'nis, the man had always been busy, preoccupied, his face prematurely lined with the responsibilities he bore.  The man was ALWAYS involved in something important. Be it planning for the next Threadfall, arranging wings as new riders joined the ranks, injured riders or dragons were relegated to sick bay, and older ones were retired; dealing with Masters and Holders, dealing with the problems and issues that arose with any large group of people, managing the myriad of tasks that came with being Weyrleader; D'nis was always busy.  

 K'ndar was doubly glad he wasn't a girl. Weyrwomen, the gold riders, had even more responsibilities. They fought Thread, pampered a queen whose eggs were the very reason for dragonrider's existence, AND ran the entire weyr, from assuring that Holds were providing stores to having babies. A weyr without a strong and capable pair of Leaders was not a place one wanted to be. Just like the Oldtimer had told him.

Being a Weyrling was a full time occupation, but even fully invested, Thread fighting dragon riders got some time off to just enjoy life. Brown riders were relatively high enough in status to garner respect, without all the additional responsibilities that came with riding a bronze.

He could not remember seeing D'nis or Danelle, his weyrmate and Weyrwoman, actually relaxing and enjoying a rest day, or doing something other than working, doing their jobs.

He knew that he was not capable of that dedication to duty. It just wasn't in him. He was no stranger to hard work, but he did enjoy time off, too. 

The cloud of dragons rose higher and higher in the sky. They darted and weaved in an upward spiral, trying hard to catch the green without success. Even as they did, though, dragons began dropping from the chase, unable to catch the green; intimidated by a larger or more assertive male; or just giving up when they realized it was hopeless. The very old males, like Menkarth, the Oldtimer's bronze, had flown solely because it was expected of them.  

 Raventh's self-confidence had vanished.  Now he just broadcasted a wordless confusion. He, like his clutch mates dithered about on the edges of the cloud, having no real idea what to do. Eventually, all but two dragons dropped from the sky and returned to their weyrs. Two dragons that were entangled dots in the sky.

Well? What do you think? he asked his brown as he finished his breakfast. Raventh had landed in the bowl along with several others, and was shaking his wings into the proper configuration in order to fold them neatly against his sides. 

It was…something new. Rastabenth mated Sinith. I saw how it is done. They are still up there. It was very.. he had no words for the melee that had been the mating chase. He struggled to find an analogy.

Confusing? Chaotic?

I don't know the word. Chaotic?  Like wherries when you ambush them and they go in every direction. Dragons everywhere. It was fun. But I know I am not ready to mate yet

It's okay. I'm not either K'ndar said, laughing in his mind, and feeling privileged to be able to reveal his innermost secrets to the one being that would never, ever betray him.  His Brown.