Broken Dragon Woes [R’nd]

T’bia fiddled anxiously with the small, blue stone he had picked up the previous day when bathing Jycenth. It was not anything particularly special, simply a pretty stone with deep flecks of blue through it, washed smooth by the water. There were many prettier stones out there, T’bia knew, but he liked the one he had picked up. The soft grey colour reminded him of how Jycenth’s deep midnight blue front melded into the pale sky blue of his rear – except for his nose, of course, T’bia smiled. He could not find fault with his dragon’s beauty, and was quite certain that Jycenth was easily one of the most beautiful blues around!

Unfortunately, being secure in Jycenth’s beauty wasn’t helping T’bia with the deep worry that there was something else wrong with his lovely young dragon. T’bia had watched the blue dragons (and the bronze, and the brown) from not only his own group, but those either side of it, take to the skies after the green dragons that populated the skies. He’d even seen some of them take off after the golds, though most everyone knew they’d never win. He had not, however, seen Jycenth so much as even twitch when a green screeched. He’d not so much as seen the dragon looking at a green, or sweet talking a green, or anything.

Jycenth was a friendly dragon, so he had lots of friends, and T’bia had seen him spend time with all the colours, and talk to them and play with them. But he never seemed to favour any of them, and T’bia was beginning to fret. Well, no, he’d passed the point where he was fretting and now he was stressed and upset because there was clearly something wrong, he’d failed somewhere, and he had broken his dragon. Jycenth, the only creature that had ever truly wanted and loved him, and he’d failed the little blue and broken him and now he didn’t chase and it was clearly all T’bia’s fault.

T’bia’s lower lip trembled as he trudged quietly through the mostly abandoned Katila Weyr, seeking unenthusiastically the only person he trusted enough to talk to about his fears. Jycenth had tried, unsuccessfully, to convince T’bia that there was nothing wrong with him. He had been slightly amused, at first, by the implications before growing frustrated that T’bia didn’t believe him. It hadn’t taken much to find out why: all through Weyrlinghood, their Weyrlingmaster had made sure to drill home to quest a dragonet that insisted all was well, notably about the itchy spots of hide. Jycenth had always done his best to be honest with T’bia, but he had hated telling the boy a spot still hurt after the youngster had oiled it several times already. After that, he could see why T’bia was reluctant to believe him and so had suggested he speak to R’nd.

The young bluerider had chewed on the idea before finally it had grown into such a knot of worry that he simply couldn’t not speak to R’nd about it. Then all he had had to do was wait to find the right moment to approach the bluerider that had mentored him for much of his Weyrlinghood, and continued to do so in their Wing sessions. It had not been easy. T’bia’s own responsibilities kept him busy, and catching a break was hard but catching one when R’nd was not occupied with B’jin, helping B’jin, wing practice of dashing around up North… T’bia wondered if he’d ever get to talk to his friend ever again! It had, naturally, been while he had been moping about never seeing the bluerider that he had crashed directly into him. After umming and ahhing and hedging a lot, T’bia had finally asked if he could talk to R’nd – later, of course! – and had run off when R’nd agreed, but before he could turn a request for later into that moment (he’d looked busy!).

Thus, T’bia trudged along unhappily behind Rell as the little blue firelizard led him to where R’nd was sitting in the shade of a large tree. The youngster smiled at R’nd when he lifted his gaze and met the other bluerider’s eyes, but did not say anything as he sat down and curled up, leaning against the tree trunk and looking up at R’nd dejectedly. “Jycenth is broken.” The blue dragon in question sighed softly to himself and shook his head, but didn’t say anything as he gently withdrew from T’bia in order to give him the impression of true privacy as he confided in R’nd, and Jycenth focused on the beasts below him, trying to pick out the most delicious one.