So where’s your hammock?The first nights at the Weyr, Ki had a hard time sleeping. The bed, though stuffed full of rushes, was flat and unresponsive. She’d slept every night in a hammock for so long that she just wasn’t comfortable in a normal bed. Ki grumbled softly as she tossed and turned.
So where’s your hammock?
In my bag. Ki responded
So put it up.
Can’t. Nothing to hang it from.
Oh.
The blue said sleepily, closing his eyelids slowly, one set at a time.The next morning, as Ki tried to feed her new dragon friend breakfast and avoid the other weyrlings, Amnyth remembered. Ki wasn’t too sure why or how he remembered, but she was so tired...
Ask the Weyrlingmaster for a hammock?
The blue suggested. Ki shook her head.Why not?
He said, chewing on a rather large piece of meat. Ki looked toward the Weyrlingmaster, then quickly away, fear causing her sleep-deprived body to shake. He can’t be that bad. Amnyth said, looking towards the Weyrlingmaster. If you just ask him...Ki shook her head. It was too much, and she collapsed, sitting down hard on the ground. Unfortuanately, the Weyrlingmaster happened to be looking in her direction at that precise moment, and quickly came to her side. "Is everything all right, Ki?" He asked.
Ki looked up at him, swallowing as she fought to find the words. "Just Tired." She said, trying not to meet his eyes.
Just?
Amnyth said, You haven’t slept well since ... I don’t know! the little blue said, eyes whirling in distress.Of course, experience taught the Weyrlingmaster to notice things like that. "Don’t play games with me, Ki. What’s wrong?"
Ki panicked. Must he torment me? She thought to herself. Didn’t J’kosh tell them? Amnyth butted Ki’s arm with his head, prodding her to speak. "Can’t sleep." She said, not looking at him. "Bed is too..." she frowned, at a loss for words. Ugh! Why must people be so social?
She sleeps in a hammock.
Amnyth explained to someone, I don’t know what a hammock is, but her cot doesn’t move right and she can’t sleep."Amnyth!" Ki exclaimed in shock.
The Weyrlingmaster nodded as his dragon relayed the information. "Why didn’t you just say so?" he said, and she bowed her head. "I know you tried, Ki," he said, clapping her shoulder. "If you promise to try to interact more with people, I’ll find a way to get you a hammock."
It seemed like a fair deal to Ki, so she agreed. It took several hours to inspect the Weyrling Barracks and find a suitable place to hang the hammock. Smiths had to pound a couple of metal pegs hammered into the walls, but... Ki had her hammock.
That wasn’t so hard, was it?
Amnyth said, curling up on his relocated couch. Ki didn’t reply – she was already sound asleep in the gently swaying hammock. |  |