On Dragon Wings [Valerian]

Valerian had noticed B’jin’s sudden silence and interest in everything but answering him right away but said nothing since Larrikith had supplied conversation enough to serve as a distraction and a way for her rider to return to them. “You can’t change what has happened and you can’t predict how or why a dragon will pick. And there’s still no solid proof that touching the eggs does anything other than scare a Candidate or ensure they’re now interested in Impressing.” While his words were oddly meant to counter B’jin’s idiot leaders of the past and give the man comfort all these turns later for not doing anything wrong, Valerian was also trying to convince himself that he hadn’t set his own wheels of fate into motion and his touch didn’t mean a thing. It was best not to get his hopes up. “So screw those that are too stuffy to see outside of their little box of set ways. Impressions from the stands will always have a potential of happening. So what?”

The whole time he had kept his gaze on B’jin for no other reason than to avoid watching Larrikith clean herself. Watching a dragon feed was one thing but watching her clean the blood from her mouth was currently a bit too much for his abused stomach. It was just as he was thinking that lying in the grass like B’jin and enjoying a bit of the day daydreaming that the greenrider sat back up and suggested they return. Valerian shrugged as his fairly indifferent answer, fine with either staying or returning but wrinkled his nose at the mentioning of chores. “Numbweed picking might suck but I’m not too keen on skinning herdbeasts either.” His arms were still sore despite having the small break and he didn’t want to think about how he’d be feeling later on. The idea of clinging to the riding straps didn’t seem too fun either but the look Larrikith gave him as B’jin tossed out a warning and suggestion had the young Harper convinced he had better suck it up or face falling to death.

“You know, maybe I will,” he mumbled, returning the dragon’s devious stare with one that said he knew what she was up to but he still wasn’t going to back down. Without another word, Valerian wandered over to a tree with a few bushes surrounding it to relieve himself. A few moments later he was climbing back up the fat rolls, making sure Larrikith heard him say it – if he was already in trouble with her, there wasn’t a point in watching his mouth—and settled in, preparing for the death grip he had perfected earlier.

Even though there was a chance it would backfire, Valerian still tossed out a comment he hoped would help keep him in one piece, “just remember that if you kill me, you won’t find someone as amazing as me to fill my spot for our sparring.” But thank you for giving me my first real ride on a dragon, Larrikith. The sincere comment was said in thought only, knowing Larrikith had to be in his head anyway, as Valerian wasn’t sure he could get the words out and didn’t want to deal with B’jin teasing him for being sweet to the horrible little green.