A turn before the opening of Seiryuu Weyr...
“Wow!” a young teenage boy whispered, “So this is where our brother was going everyday… and he was searched here, Lonpa?”
“That’s right, Grugrantal,” the young heiress of Bigahomla Hold replied stoutly to her brother, “He was learning how to play hockey by the Dragons.”
“Wouldn’t dragons be too big to have more than one in here?” Grugrantal frowned though he still touched the pieces of glass before him and realized with a tap that it wasn’t standard glass, but something that would not shatter easily.
“I speak of the hockey team that arrived here a short while back, the Victory College Dragons,” Lonpa chuckled, “They are the one’s who built this rink.”
“So they’re human then and not dragon,” the dark blond asked as he examined the red and blue lines that shone through the ice. He did not quite understand how ice could stay frozen in the building; it was something quite extraordinary to him.
“Yes, they come back to check if there’s anybody who wishes to learn to skate and possible take up playing hockey,” Lonpa replied with a smile as she planted the thought in her younger brother’s head, “They had Jearostin and Zabraxsus until Ar’wen came and picked them up to go to Keandyn Weyr. I think they miss the competition.” Grugrantal looked curiously at his sister. Hockey sounded mysterious and amazing all at once. I wouldn’t mind find out more about this hockey. There’s not much else I can do with my family in all these other crafts… I’d like the difference.
“When will they be coming back to teach?” Grugrantal quarried.
“Do we finally have a new student again?” a voice that Grugrantal had never heard before cut in.
“Ah, C’rter, I was wondering when you and your crew would be coming in,” Lonpa smiled.
“Been trying to help recruit potential players for us?” a woman spoke this time.
“In a way, Junior Weyrwoman Aisu,” Lonpa bowed slightly, “But I suspected that if one of my brothers liked hockey so would another who never really apprenticed to a craft.”
“A slacker then,” yet another voice came, once again a woman, “He better not be wanting to try being a goalie, I don’t take on slack… my God he looks almost exactly like him!”
“Jacqueline?” Lonpa frowned as the third Dragon suddenly charged forward and took Grugrantal’s head in her strong-bronzed hands.
“Same blue eyes… same blond hair….” She mumbled to herself while Grugrantal stood there too dumbfounded by the dragonrider’s excitement at what she saw and such a pretty woman, though maybe a bit rough around the edges, handling him.
“Jackal, leave the boy alone,” Aisu warned her friend. Jacqueline looked back as if hurt, for once not looking like she could strike a person as her temper caused her to do.
“But don’t you see it…?” Jackal whined, something she rarely did unless majorly excited by something, she then turned back to her usual shrewd self, “No, you wouldn’t. Never mind. I never showed you the pics I got when I stopped by to say my good-byes to my parents back in St. Cloud. I stayed there long enough to watch a few games of the hockey team.” She whirled around on Grugrantal, “This guy here is the spitting image of one of their forwards who played there from Fall of 2001 to the Spring semester of 2004. You’d think the looks would have diluted over time but here’s an ancestor of him… He’s height is even about right…! We have to take him on, bring back his who knows how many times great grandpa’s legacy.”
The group lapsed into silence. Aisu and C’rter looking at the third string goalie as if she’d grown two extra heads. Grugrantal made a confused look to which Jackal snickered.
“Even has the same confused look as him.” Lonpa looked from the rider to her brother and shrugged. It was then that the other members of the Dragons that had come to Bigahomla entered the arena.
“Whoa, what’d we miss that everybody was thrown into silence,” one of the men asked with a smirk and looked at Jackal, “Dude, you look like you’ve just seen Gretzky… well in this time his ghost.”
“Shut up, Trick,” Jackal snapped at the man nearly taking a swipe at him in the same movement.
“Leave the roughing of C’nor to the ice, Jackal,” a man resembling Aisu’s background commented in a soft yet stern voice while Trick hid behind his much larger form.
“You are so lucky K’sai is around!” Jackal hissed at the forward before turning an apologetic smile on the still slightly confused Grugrantal.
“So you think my family is distantly related to this guy?” Grugrantal asked finally to which Jackal nodded, “Was he a… a… what did you say, ‘golly’?”
“No, I said goalie,” Jackal snorted showing some of her temper towards the young man, “and no he wasn’t, he mainly played a forward but he was also trained by Dahl as a defenseman during his second season with the Huskies.” Grugrantal nodded though it was clear on his face that he didn’t understand the hockey language and positions yet.
“Well, with your permission, Lonpa,” C’rter bowed to the man’s older sister, “If you don’t mind, we’d like to get started with him. Perhaps you can find some other potentials, we’d like to bring hockey back to Pern and the more students we have the quicker it might catch on.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Lonpa replied with a smile, “I’m sure Bigahomla Hold will welcome the game with open arms. They’ll bet on anything given half the chance… I’ll see if the Hold’s Harper can help as well, I’m sure he’s noticed some of the children who might be of interested in the sport… he might even know a few apprentices that would love a chance at something extra in their lives. I believe the Masters of their crafts would allow them to do so, as bad as it sounds especially if they don’t seem to show promise in their craft. Good luck and work hard if you really want this, Grugrantal.”
Grugrantal skated around the rink at Bigahomla Hold with the rest of his team, the Bigahomla Whers. Aisu had called it a sort of Junior team, something that should lead up to one of the World Hockey League (WHL) teams. This would be one of his last games for the hockey season and at Bigahomla Hold. He had been recruited by his original teachers as being one of the first members of the Seiryuu Flit’s Hockey team, and thus would be moving to Seiryuu Weyr sometime during the summer. But now his mind needed to be on the current game against the Raku Islanders. It seemed funny to Grugrantal that a place where there was never ice would have a hockey team… but then they had two of the best scorer in the league on their team, Mikal and Donived, the one was a native of Raku Sea Hold while the other was from one of the minor holds on the islands near the much larger island that held Raku.
The Lady Holder’s son had a healthy respect for the duo. He had been warned by his coaching staff like the rest of the Whers to beware Mikal and Donived when they were on the ice, the duo were deadly when on the same line or on the ice at the same time. Together the two Islanders had assisted on each others goals or on rare occasions both assisted on a goal of another Islanders. He also knew one other thing about the duo, they were to be his teammates in the next season and he was looking forward to it.
“This should be a killer game,” he chuckled to himself as he looked down at his white home jersey that was trimmed in the team’s colors of bronze and blue, Rawlysk the hold’s blue watch wher pictured on the upper bicep of each arm. Written at an angel across his chest was Bigahomla. The number seventeen was also plastered on his biceps and on the back of his jersey below his name. On the opposite end of the ice the Islanders wore red and gold Away uniforms, the red being most prominent in the jersey.
The bull horn sounded calling the two teams to return to the locker room for their last pep-talk before the game begain. Grugrantal listened but at the same time thought heavily of his short time with the Whers. He’d learned a work ethic while learning the ways of hockey. He had shown himself to be one of the most dedicated learners of the team, drinking in everything his coaches told the team and listening even harder when the comments were addressed directly towards him. He had managed to gain the team’s trust both on and off the ice and had during his second turn of hockey, the first turn the Whers ever played, to achieve the status of an Assistant Captain on the team. This turn he traded the A on his jersey for a C, Captain.
And now it all comes to a head, he thought as they all bowed their heads and made their wishes for the game results, One more night as a Captain… one more night as a Wher… I wonder if this is the way Garrett felt on his last night as his team’s captain. I hope I’m making you proud Gramps.
“… OK, we’ve been through this yeasterday, everyone ready? Seniors to the back of the line and skate on out when your name is called off by Panlon. I’m very proud to work with every one of you and I wish you luck in the places you go from here.” There were those, who were not yet entering the WHL, who murmured a “Here, here!” in agreement.
“There may be some of us leaving,” Grugrantal stated, catching his team’s full attention at the same time as calling them in together, “But we’re not leaving here until after the game, and we’ll still fight it out, right?” Here he placed his hand out, clutched in a fist, twenty-seven other hands were placed over his own.
“RIGHT!”
“On three,” he commanded and the twenty-seven other players in the room joined his voice in the quick count.
“1! 2! 3! WHERS!”
Grugrantal was panting at the ended of the game, he gave a wiry smile at the overtime score of 4-4. He had managed the to rack up three assists in the game and his game tying goal, the goal coming within the last five minutes of the third period. As he skated through the handshake line he gave a nod of approval towards Mikal at the same time as he shook Donived’s hand.
“Nice hat trick, Donived,” he smiled, “I see it will be quite interesting working with you and Mikal on the Flits.”
“It will be a pleasure to work with you as well,” Mikal quipped from behind his friend, “You had some nice moves of your own.”
“Thanks,” the Captain, “When are you two arriving at the Weyr, by the way?”
“We’ll be there somewhere inbetween mid to late summer,” Donived replied, “Kanchou said the searchrider Ar’wen and his blue Camoth will be picking us up.”
“Careful, that blue has a tendancy to find candidates in the most unlikely places,” Grugrantal chuckled, “After all, he found my brother.”
“Your green riding brother, F’link?”
“No, my brother Z’braxs, he rides Icy Reth,” Grugrantal frowned, “How’d you know about F’link and Akaneth?”
“New papers at Raku Sea Hold,” Mikal replied though he looked irritated.
“That and your brother came to the Hold on a joy ride and decided to hit on Mik,” Donived smirked to which his friend took a swipe at him.
“And he didn’t do that to you as well?” Grugrantal asked in confusion to which Donived blushed a deep red, “Ah, I see he did. For a moment you had me scared. F’link hits on everyone except his own family members. I thought he might have lightened up.” He chuckled and the continued on to the original conversation, “Then I’ll see you when you arrive. That Camoth and his rider are supposed to be picking me up the first day of spring.”
“That early, huh?” Mikal stated in surprise, “Well, we’ll see you then. Take your own advice though, wouldn’t do to be waiting on a hatching or being in weyrling training during the pre-season much less the season.” With that the trio separated. Grugrantal with a smile on his face waved a final goodbye to the crowd that had cheered him on for two solid turns and bowed to the section known as the Rawlysk’s Den, the most energetic cheering section and possibly the most fowl mouthed of the whole crowd. The were a big reason the team had managed to skate to a 4-4 tie. Without their constant cheering of the Whers and jeering of the Islanders, their goalie in particular, the Whers might have lost the game instead. He’d miss them.
“I can’t believe you’ll be leaving tomorrow, bro,” the Bigahomla Whers’ announcer, and Grugrantal’s brother, Panlon sighed as the two of them sat in the main Hold’s public bathing pool.
“It seems a bit unreal to me as well,” Grugrantal sighed, “I mean I’m twenty one turns old. I always thought a craft was supposed to have hard work in it… not entertaining people.”
“Harpers entertain though you should remember,” Panlon told his slightly older brother, “Don’t insult my craft by saying entertaining isn’t a craft.”
“I didn’t mean to insult, Pan,” Grugrantal sighed rolling his eyes, Panlon always seemed to take him the wrong way… but that was the younger man’s short temper reacting, “Harpers do more than entertain anyway, they teach, gather information, and seek out the truth. They’re historians infact, I respect them highly.”
“Thank you.”
“Hockey is interesting in the fact that you play and the sport’s become so popular that as you get to higher levels of it people pay to watch it… by the first egg, I’m going to be payed to be on the Flits,” Grugrantal grinned stilled amazed at his luck of catching on to the sport so quickly.
“Yeah, but Harpers are payed as well, you know,” Panlon replied splashing his brother playfully, “and don’t try to use the excuse that you’re doing something you love, those who are in a craft usually love what they’re doing as well, and they are paid for their work. You are to be paid for your work like everyone else is.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“Course I’m right. And to add on that you’re going to be playing at a Weyr! You’ll be seeing dragons every day… both in your coaches and in the protectors of our fair world.”
“It will be a very interesting thing indeed,” Grugrantal smiled as he got out of the pool and dried off, “being at Seiryuu will cause us to get rides to our games by dragonback unlike those WHL teams that are only in Holds… They only go Dragonback when going between worlds, what the coaching staff has said at Seiryuu is that we will be taking dragons everywhere because of our residency. I even heard there will be a few dragonriders who will be on the team.”
“You heard right,” Panlon replied with a grin, “I just got word from the Weyr Harper and Weyr Singer there that J’stin and Z’braxs have been recruited to take positions on the team as well.”
“Why didn’t Z’braxs tell us himself?” Grugrantal frowned, usually his twenty-five turn old dragonriding brother usually informed his family about his decisions as soon as he acted upon them if they would go fairly public, such as his intentions of sending his Icy Reth after the first white to hatch at Seiryuu Weyr, Bailath.
“He’s been practicing under Aisu and C’rter’s watchful eyes,” Panlon replied, “I only found out just before this bath as I ran into Aisu’s little Chibi Fire Lizard, Marble… you should look into getting one when you get there, give you an easy way to keep in touch with us here at the Hold.”
“Who are you kidding, you’ll know everything that’s happening there long before I do,” Grugrantal chuckled, half heartily trying to dry his dark blond hair with just one of his hands ruffling it.
“Get one of those flit anyway. You never know, bro,” Panlon smiled, “even a Harper can be surprised given the right reasons.”
“A good day to you, Lady Panfre, it has been a long time,” a rider smirked as he bowed to the Lady Holder while waiting for the young man he was to take to his new home.
“Yes it has, hasn’t it, Ar’wen” she replied cheerfully though it was obvious that she was wary of the rider, “You caused a bit of trouble with our last Harper. You can’t scare off our latest one though, he’s of my family.”
“Scare off,” Ar’wen replied in mock shock, “I did no such thing, I just convinced the man that he should not be committing those malpractices of his craft in your lovely Hold.”
“You could have done so without having your Camoth dig into the ground under my Hold and pulled him from the cellars.”
“He locked the doors… aside from that, now Rawlysk has a place for a mate to live.”
“Next time wait for me to ask you to make such changes.”
“Yes, m’Lady!” Ar’wen replied with an extensive bow. As the rider rose, he caught sight of Grugrantal descending down the stairs with a bag nearly bigger than himself that carried his hockey gear, “Ah, I take it this is my passenger then?”
“He is my son, dragonrider,” Panfre warned Ar’wen.
“Duly noted, m’Lady,” Ar’wen replied having already been around two our the woman’s sons for the past two turns at least. He took on a serious look at Grugrantal approached yet looked up to his blue who seemed to have a grin on his stripe painted features. The blue rumbled and shook his head as if to chuckle. Whatever the blue commented to his rider seemed to highly amuse the man. Grugrantal looked a bit confused for a moment but shrugged, what ever the dragon had commented on it probably didn’t concern him.
“Grugrantal, I presume,” Ar’wen smiled thrusting his hand out and the other man happy shook it, “I’m Ar’wen and this is my lifemate Camoth… don’t worry, the stripes come off in water.” The blue rider winked at the Lady Holder’s son at his last comment.
“Thank you for your generosity in conveying me to Seiryuu Weyr, blue rider,” Grugrantal smiled.
“My pleasure, young sir,” Ar’wen smirked, “have you ever ridden a dragon?” the young man shook his head, “Then this shall be a grand trip indeed, neither have I.” Grugrantal looked confused for a moment then laughed at the lie, this man wasn’t as bad as some had told him. “Now lad, no offence but I have a meeting I need to get to with Aisu and Weyrwoman Quachir so if you’ll make your last good byes, we’ll be on our way. Oh and let me take that while you do so.” Without waiting for the hockey player to offer it, Ar’wen hefted the bag off of the man’s shoulders and nearly fell over with the sudden weight, “It looked lighter than this, what have you got, firestones in here?”
“Just my gear and some clothing,” Grugrantal grinned, “Kanchou said the Weyr would provide more clothing for me after I arrive.”
“Right… Well, get on with it, I’ll be fine.”
Grugrantal chuckled as the blue rider waddled over to his blue who lay close to the ground so the bag could be attached properly. The man turned to his mother noticing for the first time that she was starting to gray in areas.
“You’ll be alright, won’t you mother,” Grugrantal asked her gently.
“I have your other brothers and sisters to keep in line” Panfre replied mock insulted, “of course I’ll be fine… but I will miss you. You make sure you write, and write often. Get a fire lizard if you have to.”
“Have you been talking to Pan?” Grugrantal frowned slightly at the second time being told to get a flit, not that he didn’t want one in the first place.
“Of course, he’s our Hold’s Harper now, remember,” Panfre scolded her son, “Aside from that I was the one who told him to tell you to get one night ago.”
“I’ll see what I can do, mother,” Grugrantal smiled feeling oddly misty eyed and gave the woman a hug to hide the fact, “I’ll come visit when I get the chance. I’ll miss you and the Hold so don’t worry, I will write.”
“Good,” Panfre replied giving him a kiss on the cheek, “Now get Ar’wen out of here, I don’t need more wholes in my Hold for whers to hide in.”
“Ah but the fan base would be so greatful!”
Grugrantal set his huge bag down at the foot of one of the sets of bunk beds in the barracks that were assigned to members of the newly formed Flits hockey team. He was only partly surprised that he was the first arrival in a group of nearly thirty players. When he could, he liked being early to things that concerned him directly.
“Now which one?” he mumbled to himself as he looked at the beds. Now I wish there was at least one other person here… it would make it so much easier to decide with one less bed to worry about. After a time he opted to choose the top bunk of the beds he’d set his duffle bag in front of. Quickly Grugantal set to work on emptying his bag of it’s items; clothes being put in one of the small trunks provided for each of the players, a small tapestry of the valley in which lay Bigahomla Hold, and his hockey sticks as well as his skates were hung from some pegs that were more likely for coats and the likes than for draping hockey appearal from them.
With a satisfied sigh, Grugrantal climbed up onto the top bunk and grinned as his head didn’t seem to brush the ceiling of the barracks made weyr. Happily he flopped backwards at the same time kicking off his boots, which fell loudly to the floor. He rolled on his side, clutching his pillow to his head, and started to try and take a nap: one of his favorite things to do when he wasn’t working on something else or eating.
The former Wher wasn’t sleeping for more than an hour when a knock came at the door. At first Grugrantal didn’t hear it. Yet when the person on the other side rapped harder he raised his head and looked sleepily at the door. Who could be knocking on my door, I only know a few people here and Z’braxs and F’link don’t even know I’m here yet. Swinging his long legs over the edge of the bed he leapt down to the floor, grateful that he’d left his socks on and walked over to the door. With a yawn he opened it and was surprised to find Ar’wen with Aisu and another woman with them
“Ar’wen, Kanchou, to what do I owe this wake up call to?” he smiled still trying to blink sleep out of his eyes, “And who’s your friend?”
“I’m Quachir, Grugrantal,” the shorter of the two women smiled, “It’s a pleasure to meet one of the Flits already. May we come in?”
“Weyrwoman!” Grugrantal yelped in startlement as Quachir’s name settled in to his sleep fogged mind, “Had I known you or anybody was coming to visit me I wouldn’t have been sleeping and keeping you waiting. Please, come in.”
“It’s good to see you’ve made yourself at home already,” Aisu commented as she walked in with the other two riders and spotted the tapestry he’d hung up, “That’s a pretty good likeness to the valley. Did you make it?” Grugrantal shook his head and Aisu sighed, “Pity we didn’t get to you on this before you were all tucked in.” The man gave Aisu a curious look to which she smiled as if to say, you’ll know soon enough.
“Take a seat, Grugrantal,” Quachir commanded softly of the young man. Still confused, Grugrantal sat in one of the four chairs the room had that were next to a medium sized table. Both women took two of the other three chairs while Ar’wen spun his chair around and sat on it backwards, every so often balancing on two or three of the legs.
“We’ll try to get this out as quickly and clearly as possible,” Quachir told him and looked to Aisu and Ar’wen as if they would help make sure she said things correctly, “Seiryuu Weyr is only two turns old and still in need of riders to fill her wings. We’re trying to find as many riders and candidates as we can to help fill these spots. Saddly those who impress from here more likely than not are heading back to their home territories to be a part of their Weyr. Only a few riders who have impressed her have stayed. Yet when we find potential candidates in our territories we try to get them to Weyrs as soon as possible. Yet we still have to wait two turns till they can even think of flying in a fighting wing.”
“Excuse me for sounding rude, Weyrwoman,” Grugrantal frowned still slightly confused by the information, “But what does this have to do with me?”
“Grugrantal,”Ar’wen took over with a bit of a sigh, as if he thought the man was a bit of a dim glow not to see what they were trying to say, “when I picked you up earlier today Camoth sensed something. He told me that you’d make a good candidate for any clutch.”
“So you’re saying I’ve been searched?” the hockey player asked with excitement in his blue eyes, but that quickly turned into worry, “But what about the Flits, they’ll be a player short for two turns if I go off and impress a dragon… if I came back early with a hatchling to care for would I even have time to practice much less play hockey…? and would I even be allowed to play hockey anymore if I had a dragon?”
“Easy, Grugrantal,” Aisu shut the man up with those few words, “That’s why Ar’wen talked with me and Aisu at the same time. You can have a dragon and play hockey at the same time. The only problem is that we don’t have room for you on Seiryuu’s sands at the moment and we want you at the beginning of the season with your dragon full grown.” Now the man was theory confused, it took two turns for a dragon to be considered an adult, not three months. How can I go impress a dragon and be back with it as an adult in three months or less.
“I know what your thinking,” Quachir smiled, “But you won’t have to worry about that, you’ll be back within a few days with a dragon of your own and be able to get back up to snuff easily.”
“But how?”
“With a little trick that my Camoth can do better than any other dragon,” Ar’wen winked and spoke in a softer voice, “Something more known by dragonriders than by the public. Going between times.”
“Timing it?” Gurgrantal blinked, “F’link and Z’braxs mentioned it once in passing to me… they said they’d never noticeably done it.”
“We know of a Weyr that’s looking for candidates,” Quachir spoke up this time, “It’s a Weyr that has as of yet to be founded. They called it Dragonhope Weyr.”
“How are we to explain how I got there?” Grugrantal asked still a bit confused but warming quickly to the idea of doing something that seemed most people on Pern never got to do, time travel.
“I stumbled on them in my earlier days,” Ar’wen replied, “I warned them last time that I might be back a few times with candidates for them… and then I’d bring them back two turns later. I’m lucky that Camoth is so strong as to be able to make the jump in one go… but he has to eat quite a bit before doing it.”
“Huh?”
“Never mind, it’s not important for you to know at this time,” Quachir shoved the comment aside, “The question now is would you be willing to do this?”
“I’ll still be able to play hockey when I come back?”
“Yes, but unlike the other Flits you’ll have to practice every day after you get back,” Aisu nodded.
“I can do that,” Grugrantal replied firmly.
“Then you might want to pack up again,” Ar’wen replied, “Though you’ll technically be back here within a sevenday.” With that the women left wishing Grugrantal luck and the blue rider left to make sure his dragon was energized enough to make the jump between times.
“Oh, and here, a gift for you,” Aisu grinned handing Grugrantal a jar. Opening the jar he found it full of sand with the tip of something marbled showing through, “It’s a fire lizard egg, I heard your family wanted you to get one when you got here… Take good care of that one as you would a dragon.” The Seiryuu Flits coach was out of sight before the hockey player could think to thank her.
Dragonhope Weyr 10th Interval…
The huge blue dragon, Camoth, burst from the cold of between. Grugrantal shook his head to rid himself of the longer extension of cold and the fact of trying to keep himself from blacking out. He felt Ar’wen chuckle behind him and looked over his shoulder. To his surprise, the hockey player found Ar’wen looking quite pale.
“They were right, you were strong enough to not get knocked out by the two thousand four hundred turn jump,” Ar’wen yelled into his ear so the words wouldn’t be lost into the whipping wind, “But then I probably look just as pale as you. S’xon will tell though.”
Camoth bulged out to the Weyr bellow them cutting of any reply the hockey player could have gotten out. It was at this time that Grugrantal noticed with a muffled yelp that Camoth looked more gray than blue Is this roughly the effect of a dragon going pale? A young brown bulged in reply to the huge blue. Within moments a bronze took to the air and soon was flying nearly wingtip to wingtip with Camoth. The bronze crooned in greeting to the blue and seemed to motion Camoth was to follow him down.
“Ar’wen, what brings you to our Weyr again only a day after you left?” a man with dark skin and equally dark hair, tinged gold on the ends, greeted the trio as they landed. He smiled as he saw Grugrantal slide off tall blue’s shoulder. The blond landed and was surprised when his legs nearly buckled under his weight. Ar’wen arrived on the ground in much the same manner.
“Weyrleader S’xon,” Ar’wen breathed in greeting. The Weyrleader quickly added the two men to get to their feet.
“Another long trip I see,” S’xon sighed and looked to his bronze who was trying to add the blue who was only slightly smaller than himself, “Bhavyatath, aid Camoth in getting something to eat, I will help these two to do the same.” The bronze snorted as if thinking for a moment it below himself, the Weyrleader’s dragon, to take on a duty of caring for a blue, but there seemed to be a friendship between the two dragons as the bronze soon took on a concerned look for his charge and helped the blue off to the feeding ground.
“Good to see you again, S’xon. You say I’ve only been gone for a day?” Ar’wen groaned as the Weyrleader put and arm around both men and guided them into the nearest weyr. A spread of foods, some Grugrantal had never seen before, was set on a table made for six.
“More if you were able to make that trip it seems,” S’xon chuckled, “but to us here it’s only been a day. I see you’ve brought someone with you. Bringing peace offerings to Kira for what you did last time.”
“Nah, just a candidate,” Ar’wen replied as he was settled into a chair. Grugrantal couldn’t help but reach for the food without asking, timing it made one hungry if it was a large jump such as he had.
“So you think you can impress here, boy?” S’xon addressed his next question to the hockey player who had to swallow hard around a hunk of bread.
“If Camoth thinks so, I’m pretty sure I should be able to,” Grugrantal replied taking a swig of whatever drink was near to hand, “He searched two of my brothers over the past four turns and they impressed on their first clutch.”
“Not everybody impresses on their first clutch, lad,” S’xon reminded the man.
“I know,” Grugrantal replied, “but I can still try!” S’xon nodded with amusement.
“A live one this lad is,” the Weyrleader smirked at Ar’wen who was now too busy eating and drinking himself, “What’s your name?”
“Grugrantal,” the man smiled feeling safe enough to stop his head long eating frenzy now.
“He’ll be needing the use of an iced over pond or an indoor ice rink if possible while he’s here,” Ar’wen stated through three meat rolls in his mouth, “He’s to play for the Seiryuu Flits when he gets back.” S’xon look highly interested at the mention of the hockey team, “Don’t ask about it S’xon, we don’t need him knowing the past before it happens to him.”
“Don’t you mean my future?”
“Oh, this is going to be confusing I just know it.”