Once Syrinx’s injuries healed, she began her training once more, now entertaining the people of White River Weyr with her antics. Her firelizards, Evli and Aeb, learned some new tricks. Their newest trick was to drop silken ribbons from their talons when given a certain cue. It didn’t always work. Syrinx hoped that it would work when she needed the firelizards to do it – like the fan trick in her dance the day she was Searched.
The thrill of that victory was far surpassed by how she felt when Opoysith chose her from all the girls standing on the Hatching Grounds. He green was darling. She carried herself with a dancer’s grace and was very daring. In fact, she’d swum nearly halfway across the lake the first day, and none of her clutchmates even dared.
As Opoysith grew, Syrinx found herself having less and less time to dance – though she often “danced” between one place and the next, skipping along merrily while her blue and white firelizards flew behind.
Being a new dragonrider was tough, but Syrinx had had worse audiences.
Opoysith was as graceful in the air as her rider was on the ground. It surprised no one that the green had the same daring nature as her rider.
Aeb and Evli the white firelizard often helped Syrinx scrub the growing Weyrling, and when the time came for the weyrling class to learn to chew firestone, Syrinx and a few others declined, preferring their greens to stay fertile. Though green’s clutches were small, and contained mostly greens and blues, many greenriders didn’t want to sterilize their dragons... not with the demand for female riders...
Of course, Opoysith could always start chewing after a clutch or two.
"Hey Syrinx!" Q’wil called, "Anything you want to send home to East Rock?" Syrinx smiled and ran over. Q’wil was the sweetest bronzerider she’d ever met – and he liked to dance. Once the note was off to East Rock via a messenger flit, the Weyrlingmaster called the class together.
"Today," the weyrlingmaster said, "You’ll learn to ride these winged friends of yours. Anyone who disobeys my orders will be grounded for the next month."
Syrinx and Opoysith paid great attention – soon they’d dance together in the sky.
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