Return of the Master [Talian]

You didn't sleep well again Khaduceth said as he rose to his feet.  The dragon waited with patient concern as Talian dressed himself and eventually emerged from the barracks, eyelids heavy and thin shoulders slumped. He hadn't answered Khaduceth's previous observation, but neither of them really needed him to. It was beyond obvious that he needed more and better sleep. Instead of speaking, Talian just reached out and placed his hand on Khaduceth's nose. They were quiet for a few long moments. 

Fellis was curled gently on his shoulder, purring slightly in greeting to the brown dragon. The polite fire lizard pushed his nose into Talian's hair, grooming him gently in an effort to cheer him up. Khauceth was of a similar mind, but clever enough to know that simple gestures like that wouldn't do much. He didn't bother asking what was wrong, for both of them already knew: it was the dreams.

"It's okay," Talian said lightly. He still hadn't fallen out of the habit of speaking aloud to his partner, even though they'd done a solid job of learning mental communication. It was soothing, and in all honesty talking in his head made Talian feel a little bit crazy. He supposed talking out loud to an animal was worse, but at least it felt natural. He smiled a little bit and pressed his forehead against the dragon's nose. "Thanks for worrying, but I'll be just fine."

Are you sure? the dragon asked, warily pushing his snout forward to nose the young man. Talian threw one arm around the alarmingly-large snout and pressed a kiss against the soft hide. "Promise," he confirmed. Then, a wary smile appeared. "Speaking of promises, well..."

Khaduceth knew what to do. The dragon lowered his neck and lifted his leg, allowing his boned to climb up. It had been a few days since the horrible first-ride lesson now, and with a bit of practice they'd gotten it down well enough. Talian's body wasn't exactly well-suited to climbing around and other physical activity, and exercising for lessons wasn't helping a bit. This, at least, was not so horrible as he first thought. Riding Khaduceth was actually pretty relaxing.

"I told B'jin I'd keep trying," he said aloud, as if reminding himself would help bolster his confidence. "So, let's go I guess."

Don't you want breakfast?

"Not yet. Come on; let's just go," he said. Khaduceth purred in approval, and Fellis let out the softest squeak of approval as they set out.

They wandered for a short while before Talian realized they'd drifted close to the infirmary. His guts twisted a bit at the sight of the building, even now in the low morning light. He didn't want to go over there. It was nothing but a big, ugly reminder of life's cruel jokes. He belonged inside that building a hundred times more than he belonged on Khaduceth's back!

Oddly enough, Khaduceth agreed. The dragon hadn't gotten out much. Talian never visited anyone except B'jin and Valerian, and the pair didn't go around the Weyr much except to get to and from lessons. Khaduceth had never been this building up close, but he'd seen it plenty of times in his bonded's dreams and memories. This was where Talian wanted to be, and that was good enough to Khaduceth. Can we go look? he asked respectfully, curious and wanting to know what the big deal was.

Talian bit his lip. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to check in," he muttered, reluctantly. If they'd rearranged his office, he would kill them all.

Pleased, Khaduceth projected warmth and reassurance to his bonded before he started to walk over. They approached the building from the east side and poked his snout at the first window he encountered. His breath fogged it up. Talian took a moment to try and peek through Khaduceth's eyes and see what was inside, but it only gave him a headache. "Khaduceth! Stop...Come on, let's just go around to the front."

My apologies. With that, Khaduceth backed away and started to turn towards the front of the building.