[G] [P] 744.01.29 | Bedazzling Dragons

The late afternoon sun was still strong as it beat down on R'dal and the two dragons lazing on the ledge near him. He had returned from lunch earlier and, with nothing else to do, grabbed his beading kit and joined Edath and Halomirth as the friendly green wasn't entertaining anyone else. R'dal loved seeing a pile of dragons on their ledge but it did make for a squishy space when he wanted to do more than curl up with them. Since he and Edath weren't needed for Searching for some time to come, his afternoons so far had become wide open. At first, he spent the free time exploring the Weyr now that it was fully operational so he could learn all about it, then he simply started to visit every location to make new friends and offer his help.

Mostly, he was lonely and still adjusting to the new Weyr. He had plenty of friends both new and old, but one of the main ones wasn't around nearly as much now. F'drel, rightfully, took his new role seriously and was out all day tending to his tasks and being super awesome at it, so R'dal couldn't be upset about it. He was, however, a little upset at their weyr. It was huge! So, that was pretty cool, but, it was also much lower than any other weyr he had lived in and R'dal missed being up high. He knew that was a bit of an odd take considering the nicer weyrs with better luxuries were on the lower levels but the view sucked. They weren't at the best angle for the sky gazing he liked to do and it was noisier closer to the ground. But he didn't complain. Those were small issues in order to see F'drel so happy and with a purpose. It never crossed his mind that they didn't have to live together or even in the same Weyr. When M'ris announced he would be opening High Reaches, R'dal briefly considered moving there to keep an eye on his dad but F'drel's job opportunity was important and R'dal wanted to be there to support him.

"Just a few more," R'dal told Halomirth as he added another blue bead to the string. She had always shown interest in his hobby and R'dal finally decided it was time Halomirth had her own shiny baubles. Currently, she sported two single strands--like normal bracelets--on one of her head knobs. The string he worked on now was much longer as an experiment to see if wrapping it multiple times around the other knob would work better. He had also promised to meet with a glass crafter to get larger beads so he could make her actual bracelets for her forelegs. "You're going to shine brighter than a Rising gold!" R'dal giggled as he threaded two amber beads next before tying off the end and then securing it all together in one large loop. Edath glanced over as R'dal started wrapping the new string around the free space and snorted his amusement before shutting his eyes to silently soak in the sun.

F’drel had a headache. There was an issue with supply deliveries from two different Craft Halls, and everyone expected him to fix the problem. Which he did, eventually, but it involved a lot of talking to people who made him nervous about things that would impact a whole lot of people, which was stressful. And while having an official position and a Weyrleader he actually mostly trusted to back him up made it easier than it would have been otherwise, it was still anxiety inducing. Even before the poisoning it would have given him a headache, and after it, well, a pounding headache was all but guaranteed.

By some stroke of luck, he didn’t have anything major to do for the rest of the afternoon, and one of the women he’d recruited to help him keep things in order had convincingly argued she could take care of the minor things, so F’drel headed back to the weyr he shared with R’dal. He hadn’t had a lot of time to relax since K’dar had given him the position offer at the soon to be opened Igen, and he only felt a little bit like he was wasting time taking the afternoon off.

If he were being smart, F’drel would go immediately to the bedroom and lie down and rest properly. Instead, he went out to the ledge where Halomirth had informed him she, Edath, and R’dal were. He watched R’dal wrap a string of beads around one of Halomirth’s head knobs, and even if he hadn’t had a psychic connection with her he’d have been able to tell she was delighted with the situation.

“They look nice,” he said after a moment, announcing his presence.

R’dal startled and turned a shocked face on F’drel before glancing up at the sky to verify what time it was. It was still early, which was a good thing since it meant he hadn’t lost track of time and left a mess lying around for F’drel to return to, but it also meant the greenrider had returned early to a bit of a mess. But! It also meant his friend was home early! However, R’dal didn’t want to draw attention to any of that and simply smiled at the comment about the bracelets.

“Right? Miri helped pick out the colours as well. She was being cheeky earlier and wouldn’t confirm or deny, but I think this one is based on all her favourite cuddle friends.” R’dal pointed to one of the smaller strands of beads that was mostly blue with some amber sprinkled in. If it was true, it was such an adorable way to create a pattern. An idea to market his bracelets to blueriders and brownriders as ways to show off the Flights they won briefly tickled at his mind, but R’dal quickly brushed it away. It turned the sweet idea into something icky and demeaning with bragging rights.

“Are you home for the day?” R’dal gave up pretending he wasn’t excited to see F’drel and did his best to not show his eagerness by picking up the stray beads that had escaped their confinements. A lot of his beads came from the cast offs of glass crafters that couldn’t use the small pieces, so they weren’t always the right shape R’dal wanted in the moment or lacked a hole that went through all the way. He really should buy another jar for those bits to save for any other special project.

“And how was your day?” R’dal asked and patted the clean space beside him, inviting F’drel to grab a floor pillow and join them.

“Of course it is,” F’drel said, shaking his head in a silent laugh at R’dal’s interpretation of Halomirth’s bead choices. “Does the bead size correlate to the size of the dragon or how much she likes them? Or is the bead size irrelevant and it’s all down to color. You don’t have to answer, Miri, let him guess first,” he added when Halomirth felt like she was going to pipe up. She bobbed her head in a nod and settled back down, crooning as F’drel moved to sit on the floor next to her and R’dal.

“Barring anything particularly weird or important coming up, yeah, I’m home for the day.” He sighed and squinted at R’dal’s beading set up. F’drel very much wanted to immediately lay down and use R’dal as a pillow, but he didn’t want to get in the way of any beading that was still happening. Or accidentally hit something keeping the beads contained and send them rolling everywhere. A jar of beads had somehow gotten caught in a pile of blankets and upended a few months earlier, and F’drel was pretty sure whoever had moved into R’dal’s old weyr would still be finding the odd bead or two.

“Busy. There was an issue, but it’s dealt with and it ended up leaving the afternoon clear so I guess it worked out.” F’drel related a few more details of the delivery problems, slumping over halfway through to use R’dal’s lap as a pillow once it was clear all of his beading kit was safely contained. He managed to only complain what he felt was a reasonable amount about the Crafter who’d fucked up his math so bad it had required three other people to straighten out the purchase records. R’dal always looked for the good in people, and F’drel tried to keep his bitching about other people being idiots to a minimum around him. Frankly, this man deserved it and F’drel was too tired to care that much about being a bit mean, but the R’dal Niceness Effect was always there.

R'dal knew he was a little scatter-brained sometimes, but he liked to think that overall he was an attentive and active listener. So while he would shoot the bracelet a glance here and there to consider the size of the beads, he still asked F'drel questions about the details of his day and nodded in agreement at some of the assessments. "I bet the Crafter is relieved you were able to sort it all out because you're awesome and have a keen eye for such details. Hopefully if he has superiors he doesn't get into too much trouble or lose the contract with us. You definitely helped someone learn and grow today, though! Including your own staff! If you aren't available, they'll know what to do."

It was easy to fall into a simple and quiet routine when F'drel used him as a pillow. R'dal usually started with gently running his fingers through the soft hair before turning it into a scalp massage that dipped down to the temples at times. Ever since the poisoning, R'dal knew how easy it was for his friend to get headaches and hoped his touch helped as much as the teas they had stocked up did. Given the stress of the morning, R'dal assumed F'drel would be in need of the massage and worked his fingers in what he had been told was a soothing rhythm on the couple of other friends he practiced on. His goal was to help, not add to the pain!

"The bead size is irrelevant," he softly declared out of nowhere, having come to his conclusion. "I don't think Miri ranks her friends and going by size might accidentally lead to that assumption as well. The choices were made solely on colour." He looked expectedly to the green dragon for the answer. It wouldn't matter if he was wrong--how else did one learn about a friend if questions and discussions didn't happen?