Darison
:Story::Search::Candidate::Hatching::Weyrling::Adult:
:Falas Weyr::Tripaldi Weyr

Darison stumbled back into his room after a very long night. He got as far as the bed and his legs would no longer support him. He crumpled, just barely able to catch himself and pull himself up onto the bed. He lay there on his stomach; his face turned to the side so his cheek was pushed in towards his mouth, puckering his lips. He asked himself once again why he didn’t just leave as his brother had done. But no, his brother hadn’t just left; he’d gone to be an apprentice in the Beastcrafthall. Darison had lost touch with his younger brother long ago; the young man had probably made Journeyman by now. Perhaps even Master, he was that good.

Darison had been that good too, but he lacked his brother’s drive and love of the craft. He resented every moment spent in the birthing stall, waiting for the runner to give birth. He hated the tedious task of cataloging data on each runner and herdbeast, then figuring out which should be mated for the best resulting offspring. But his brother enjoyed it. His brother had always had an odd sense of humor and enjoyed the way genes combined and cancelled each other out. He’d delighted in the birth of a new runner, exclaiming in glee at the colorings he’d predicted or frowning thoughtfully when the foal didn’t turn out as expected.

Darison pulled his thoughts from his younger brother, but not without some effort. He often wondered how his brother was doing and regretted their loss of contact. But it was too late now to change anything, to try to fix the events of the past. He sighed and heaved himself to his feet. He should at least undress before going to bed, even though he’d only get a few hours of sleep tonight. Why does father insist on breeding that mare? he thought wearily as he peeled his filthy clothes from his body. She always has trouble birthing, and she always ends up birthing on my watch!

But before he could complain any more he crawled into bed and was asleep before his head touched the pillows.

Darison woke several hours later and blinked groggily as he saw light streaming through his open window. The sun was far above the horizon and he leapt from his bed and rushed to throw on some clothes as he realized he’d managed to oversleep. He raced down the hallway, running into the kitchen to grab a bite to eat.

He winked at one of the cooks and she blushed, looking down and away from him. He used that opportunity to snatch a hot roll from the tray before her and she looked up in surprise and anger, scowling at him as he grinned and dashed off.

Even first thing in the morning, Darison was a charming man. At twenty-one years of age he had long since grown out of his awkward teenage stage and become a handsome, well-mannered man, who knew how to use it to his advantage. He never really flirted, just used his charm to his full advantage and not a soul in the hold would dare call him a tease. All the girls wanted him but none of them had him and though there had been some speculation as to him being a greenrider if he were ever to Impress Darison just laughed it away. He knew who he was, and that certainly was not him. He simply wasn’t going to spend all his time chasing skirts. Someday he’d find the right girl and live happily ever after, that was assuming of course that he could get away from this sharding breeding farm.

Darison rolled his eyes holding onto the roll with his teeth as he pulled on his jacket. That done he headed across the yard to the stables, munching on his roll as he went. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate what his father was doing here. Runner Hold had a long history of producing some of the finest runners and herdbeasts on Pern, hence how it got its name. But Darison wanted more than the life of a simple breeder; he couldn’t be content with it as his father and brother were.

He sighed, shaking those thoughts from his head as he pushed open the heavy stable-door and slipped in, immediately heading to the birthing stall to check up on the mare and foal he’d taken care of last night. His father was there before him, smiling proudly down at the foal where she lay in the straw.

“She’s a beauty, Dar,” Damiar said with a smile at his son as Darison walked up. “You did a good job with her, hardly a bruise and I know Kella doesn’t birth easy.”

“I still don’t understand why you continue to breed her, Pop,” said Darison with a shake of his head, unable to keep from smiling as the wobbly foal attempted to get to her feet, swaying back and forth. “She has so much trouble with the births, it’s got to be bad for her.”

“I know, it is hard on her, son, but this mare produces the best fillies and colts on Pern and we make a hefty profit from them alone.”

Darison just sighed and shook his head again, leaving his father to admire the little filly as he went to check the other birthing stalls. They had several herdbeasts due to deliver in the next day or two so he checked them first. All of the animals seemed fine though so he went about his other chores, cleaning stalls and feeding and seeing to the young runners and herdbeasts. Many of the fillies and colts had only recently been weaned from their mothers and he spent a lot of time with them everyday calming them and getting them used to being around humans.

It was a long day, but Darison didn’t mind it so much. It was a routine and having a routine was comforting, even though it was not a routine of his choosing. At the end of the day he put off returning to the hold, laying out on the hay-bales in back and watching the sun go down. He thought about his life and how he would like to change it. He didn’t really know what he wanted to do, but he did know he wanted something other than this, something grander. Something he could have some say in, where he could form his own routine and have others follow it. But he shook his head and chuckled softly. That certainly sounded conceited, wanting to have people under you to obey you. Darison got up then and headed inside for dinner, it had been another long day and he wanted to be sure he got plenty of sleep that night.

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