Chap. 250 Ista Weyr

Chap. 250 Ista Weyr

K'ndar and D'nis were finishing off an excellent meal in the dining hall.

"I remember having to dispose of a rider's gear," the bronze rider said. "It was never easy. But death comes to us all, K'ndar. Losing teams was always heartbreaking. I am content that when it was my job to do that sort of thing, I did it to the best of my ability. That's all you can expect, really. You already did the right thing, offering the braid to the mother."

He tapped the table top to dispel the angst that welled up in his heart.

"It's the braid that I'm concerned with, primarily," K'ndar said. "Greta trained at Ista. So I plan on turning it over to their Weyrleader. Do you know who it is?"

D'nis smiled. "Now that I'm a Councilman, yes, I do. They recently had a mating flight. He's T'mos, his Weyrwoman is Shirvan." D'nis was quiet for a moment. "Have you been back to Kahrain, lately?"

"Well, only to pick up and drop my sister off for our Turnover trip to our cothold. That took but a few minutes, and I didn't dally. Why?"

"Two things. I suggest you talk with B'rant, maybe even ask him to go with you. He's experienced with dragonrider protocol, especially in this situation. The Weyrlingmaster is in between classes right now, and I'm betting he'd love to go see some other weyr," D'nis said.

"Would you like to come, too?"

D'nis grimaced. "I'm sorry, K'ndar, yes, but I'm Councilman, now, and that job keeps me busy."

K'ndar nodded. "I understand. I'll get with B'rant. And the other?"

"Well," D'nis said, "Mirth rose last week."

K'ndar thought of Kahrain's gold queen dragon, and her rider, Weyrwoman Siena. She and M'rvin, the Weyrleader, had never seen eye to eye. Their mutual antipathy had only grown more and more obvious. It had strained relations in the Weyr, even beyond M'rvin's increasingly antagonistic management of his dragonriders.

"That's good news. She hasn't risen to mate in over a year. I know everyone was getting worried. I know Mirth was in good health, so I'm thinking the reason she just didn't come into heat was because she was upset with Siena and M'rvin arguing so often. I guess they've made up now?"

D'nis grinned. K'ndar realized he was holding something back.

"Well, I will say that they've stopped arguing." He looked smug.

"Really! That's great! It's so much easier when the Weyrleaders get along. Like you and Danelle did," K'ndar said.

He immediately regretted his words, seeing D'nis wince at the loss of his beloved Weyrwoman.

"I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean to open old wounds."

"It's okay, K'ndar. I'll never be over her, not completely. But in the Weyr's case, the mating flight was unusual in that the Weyrleader, M'rvin, declined to participate."

It took a moment for it to sink in.

""Declined?"" How do you keep a bronze from flying his queen?"

"Simple. You remove yourself and your dragon from the vicinity before the queen rises," D'nis said.

K'ndar shook his head. "What? He left? And Arcturuth accepted it?"

"From what I hear, yes, he left. No, Corvuth told me Arcturuth did not want to leave without mating his queen.

M'rvin had stopped even trying to appear he was leading the Weyr. He washed his hands of it, leaving Siena to run the entire operation. Which was no problem, as she's been running the weyr in both positions for quite some time. His depression, K'ndar, had made him virtually useless. He didn't believe he had depression. He refused to take the herbs the healers offered. They work to cure depression but only if the sufferer actually TAKES them."

"And then he just left? Did he know Mirth was going to rise?"

"Arcturuth knew. I'm certain Siena did, too. I don't know the timing, but his last act as Weyrleader was to declare the mating flight open to any bronze, and then he renounced his position as Weyrleader, and signed out of the Weyr."

K'ndar was astounded. "Where did he go? He's still alive? He didn't suicide, did he?"

"I don't know, but I don't think he's dead," D'nis said.

"Wow," K'ndar said. "I can't imagine the tumult all that caused at the Weyr," he said.

"Probably not as much as you might think. Siena had things well in hand even before M'rvin's departure. B'rant, and the other senior riders, what was left of them, so many have left! They all stepped up and took hold. Hariko, of course, was the mainstay, too. She's a treasure, what a Weyrwoman she would have made! When you talk to the weyrfolk one on one, they're all fairly relieved that the drama is over."

He felt a bit of shame.

"Drama! M'rvin pissed me off, sir, and I'm not the only one. But now I feel as if I ran away rather than take it and try to carry on."

"K'ndar, did I? Run away?"

"You? You were the best Weyrleader, sir!"

"No, not even close. But I did leave, just like you. I was Selected, as you know. Would I have stayed had I not been selected? Probably, but more out of sense of duty than desire. You shouldn't feel as if you 'ran away'. You were a rank and file dragonrider, doing what you were told and not being a problem. I'm certain if you'd been given a leadership position you would have stayed," D'nis said.

"I never wanted a leadership position, but yes, I would have stayed had one been hung on me," K'ndar said.

"Don't short yourself, K'ndar, you didn't run away when Thread was still a danger. Without Thread, you had...every dragonrider has..the right to take the an opportunity to further yourself, and the staff here is very happy with you," D'nis said.

"Thank you, sir, but...a Weyrleader just doesn't run away. Or maybe he thought no one else could see it." K'ndar said.

"Depression must hurt, K'ndar. I'm not apologizing for him, but I think he came to the realization that the Weyr was coming apart at the seams and he was the cause of it.

Why he didn't take the herbs, I don't know. He may not have been able to accept that he was ill. He wasn't able to ask for help. It may have come down to the point where it was a matter of survival. He had no control over his own feelings, so he kicked over the traces and left for, I hope, a new start. Wherever he is, I hope he is taking the herbs. He was a good dragonrider and did his share of killing Thread."

K'ndar shook his head. "Such a simple solution and he didn't take it." He sighed. "Funny, isn't it, that we can cure an animal by giving it herbs to make it feel better, and yet we can't force a human to do so."

He looked at D'nis. "Sir, please, if you ever see that sort of thing in me, please. Slap me upside the head until I come to my senses."

D'nis laughed. "Only if you promise me the same thing."

"Right. And be put in a cell for assaulting a Pern Councilman?"

"Come on, K'ndar. I have to have SOMEONE do the deed for me. I don't have a wife to make me mind."

They both grinned. Then, without a word, they bumped fists.

"Hmm. So, who flew Mirth?"

D'nis laughed. He was about to say 'Guess', but he knew that K'ndar hated guessing games.

"Kenth."

Shock ran through K'ndar's mind.

"KENTH? F'mart's bronze? F'mart is Weyrleader?" K'ndar shouted. Others in the dining hall turned to look at his outburst and cringing, he mouthed the words 'sorry'.

"Amazing, isn't it? He's younger than you."

K'ndar was astonished. F'mart. F'mart?

"F'mart. Weyrleader." It felt so strange to refer to his classmate as 'weyrleader'.

"Aye. Possibly the youngest man to be weyrleader in a generation, maybe more. Part of it was the dearth of bronzes. M'rvin had done a good job of driving dragonriders away from Kahrain. What Kahrain bronzes were left were too young to fly a queen. But from what B'rant told me, it was no contest, even though M'rvin had declared it an open flight. A few bronzes came down from Northern, but none of them were even close to catching Mirth."

"Huh. Well, Kenth is fast for a bronze as big as he is. F'mart! That's amazing." He thought of what F'mart had been-a brash, arrogant bully who, somehow, had managed to tame his abrasive personality. But still, F'mart?

"What does the weyr think of it?"

"I'm not sure, but the atmosphere seems to be happier, with M'rvin gone. D'mitran told me it was as if a huge black cloud had been blown away."

"Whew. What kind of Weyrleader will he make?"

D'nis shook his head. "I don't know. When I was Weyrleader, I wanted nothing more than to wring his bloody neck. He was a conceited smart ass, always pushing the limits. B'rant and I doled out more punishment to him than all the rest of your class combined. The senior dragonriders were hard on him, and he had it coming! But something changed him. I think the testosterone gave way to dragon sense. Someone got to him, and I think it was Kenth.

Kenth's a highly ethical dragon, he's a lot like Corvuth. He very much follows convention, he's a leader, always thinking of the dragons he leads. Mind you, I'm only repeating what Corvuth has told me, and being Kenth's sire, he's a bit biased towards his get."

K'ndar grinned.

Then he decided. "Right, then. I'll go to Kahrain, I guess, to get with B'rant. Thanks for the suggestion, I was a bit unsure of what to do. I guess I'll congratulate F'mart, too. Although I wonder how Siena will manage, with F'mart?"

"Trust me. It's the other way around. F'mart's 'just' a bronze rider. Siena is to her last cell the rider of a Weyr's queen. She can fly rings around a cocksure lad like F'mart. She had the self discipline to not kill M'rvin...and that's saying something," D'nis said.

_______________________________________________________________________

It'd been a very long time since he'd flown alongside Kahrain's Weyrlingmaster, he reflected.

He remembered the days of being a Weyrling, when the sight of Banarth flying above the class was reassuring. He had felt that, as long as B'rant was watching over them all, that they were somehow safer.

Banarth was always telling me to be quiet Raventh said.

Well, you WERE quite the loquacious one. They called you chatterbox.

Lo..?

Loquacious. It means "talks too much"

I just had a lot of questions.

I know. By the egg, do I know! But it's okay. You were smart then, and smarter now. Oh, look..it's Roany! He's following us!

The blue roan fire lizard had appeared in the sky. He flew alongside Raventh, eyeing Siskin, who was perched just behind Raventh's head.

He wants to ride on me.

And?

What is it your ship humans say?

"Permission to come aboard"

Roany flew to just above K'ndar's head, and met his eyes. The blue roan's eyes rolled an uncertain orange.

"Come on, Roany, you can ride behind Siskin."

Roany moved to just in front of K'ndar and landed on Raventh's withers, just in front of K'ndar.

He resisted the urge to reach out and stroke the fire lizard. This was a huge step for the orphaned fire lizard.

"Ready to go between, K'ndar?" B'rant called.

"Aye, sir!" he called, instantly remembering the many times he'd heard the same question.

"Dragonstone in your mind?"

"Yes, sir!"

"On my mark then...three, two, one..between!"

_______________________________________________________________________

K'ndar gasped.

Ista Island ! He didn't need a dragonstone. The Northern Mainland's Igen Peninsula pointed at the island. You'd have to be blind, he thought, to miss it.

As they dropped, he saw Ista Weyr on the western coast. The weyr was a single volcanic cone, heavily forested on the outsides. The inside floor of the cone was an impossibly green meadow. He could see a fence made of rock separating the meadow from the herd animals enclosure. Dragons didn't have to go far to feed! At the very edge of the enclosure, a waterfall plummeted to the sea below. He could see young dragons, obviously a Weyrling class, flying in and out of the falling water.

"It's beautiful!" he called.

"That it is. But small," B'rant called back.

"I see that," K'ndar said. "Isn't this the weyr that the Oldtimers moved to? Didn't they have an open mating flight here?"

"You remember your history, K'ndar! Yes. Imagine that floor filled with over 25 bronze dragons AND a queen. Amazing, what?"

He couldn't imagine that many bronzes crammed into the meadow. Never mind the smaller dragons, wanting to try for a queen, despite the bronzes.

He could see weyrs on the outside of the cone as well as inside. How lovely the place was!

Ista's watchdragon roared.

_________________________________________________________________________

T'mos and Shirvan accepted the proffered braid.

"No one would have blamed you if you'd just left it on the rocks, K'ndar."

He looked at the Istan Weyrwoman.

"Ma'am. It was easier than I had expected. My dragon, Raventh, had it all in hand. And I'm sure you would have done the same, ma'am, had you been there."

She smiled, wanly. "Don't be too sure, K'ndar. T'mos would have beaten me if I'd told him."

T'mos laughed. "Risk my Weyr's queen? I don't think so....but K'ndar, she would have, sure as sunrise. And I would definitely have beaten her afterwards."

He winked, telling everyone that he would never have even thought of beating anyone.

Shirvan handed the braid to G'ver, Ista's Weyrlingmaster. He'd brought a small redtree chest, with a dragon carved on the lid. He held the braid, gently.

"I remember putting it on her shoulder," he said, sadly. "No one was here to see her graduate."

Shirvan growled, softly. "I knew a little about Greta," she said. "Most of it being her reputation as a rebel. But, from what Glorus said to you, much of that came from escaping her mother." She shook her head in disgust. "No tears were shed when Glorus left the weyr."

G'ver opened the chest, and tucked the braid atop a small pile of other braids.

Just like the one at Kahrain, K'ndar thought.

G'ver blinked, hoping no one could see his eyes were wet. Greta. A green rider with the heart and courage of a gold. Such an ending for such a nice kid.

He closed it. "Thank you, K'ndar, for taking such a dangerous risk recovering it. Perhaps you have a bit of Greta in you? She was very brave, always willing to take on the toughest Thread falls. She never gave me any trouble, but she certainly gave me heart attacks at some of the risks she'd take!"

They all laughed. It made the solemnity of the transfer easier.

"You're welcome, sir. I have her personal effects, too, if you'd like it," he said.

He handed the bag to Shirvan. The Weyrwoman opened it and took out the contents.

G'ver said, "May I?"

"Of course," Shirvan said.

He picked up the ring. "Did she tell you whose ring it was?"

"No, sir, I never saw it on her finger," K'ndar said.

"Probably because it's a man's ring, too big for her to wear without fear of losing it. She told us who was the original owner. I can't remember the man's name, but he was one of her forbears. He was a crewman on the Bahrain. This was his class ring. He'd graduated from Starfleet Academy."

Everyone gasped.

The man placed the ring on the table. Worn thin from 2500 years, missing its gemstone, still, it seemed to shine from within.

"The rest, I don't know, K'ndar. I think we'd like to keep the ring, with the braid? As for the rest, your plan on returning it to her resting place is appropriate. Unless there's something you'd like? I'm sure she'd approve."

K'ndar thought for a moment. He'd not really thought of it until now. He reached down and picked up the carved dragon.

"I think..I think I'd like this. It's beautiful."

"Then it is yours, K'ndar, rider of brown Raventh. I'm sure, if Greta were alive, she'd thank you for solving the puzzle of her disappearance."

 

Ista Weyr by Aysha S. of Pinterest. 

Netsuke Dragon unknown artist, URL:

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