She thinks loudly, the lazy blue stated casually to R'nd as he watched the humans interact from where he still lounged on his rock. She thinks you're a Searchrider as well. R'nd smiled at that comment. He wanted to be a Searchrider, having always believed they were an honoured position and something blueriders and even some greenriders could call their own without having browns and bronzes lording over them. R'jit had been a wonderful Searcher and R'nd wanted to follow in his footsteps, but it was up to Ayyonth. One day Searching might resume and one day it might be done traditionally as well without kidnapping people and only then would they know for certain if Ayyonth was good enough to assist the Weyr.
R'nd sat in the water, hands idly burying themselves in the mud, enjoying the odd sensation as it squished through his fingers, as he kept an eye on the girl. Most of the 'brats seemed to be good swimmers and R'nd doubted a father would ditch their kid at the lake without staying to supervise if she wasn't capable in the water but he wanted to make sure he didn't have to do any rescuing that day or explaining what happened to anyone. "He does. When he's not being a lazy blue rock, he's merrily splashing around in the water." Ayyonth snorted in response but he was warming up to the child.
She makes some good points. I do love to swim and I do enjoy scritches as well. R'nd laughed and waved toward the girl. Then go play with her. You know I don't mind. His dragon would also know he didn't mind when Ayyonth spoke to other people either. So long as they were fine with it, then there was never an issue. He suspected the weyrbrat would love having a dragon talk to her and it wasn't a surprise when Ayyonth stood, stretching dramatically to show off his larger size before dipping into the water to slowly paddle toward the girl to greet her. Hello. I believe you owe me some scritches.