“Today’s the day!” Kiya practically leapt of Bynnkyth’s back and headed for the stairs.
A little excited? Despite her sarcasm the golden dragon was in a good mood. Kiya’d been waiting and talking about and anticipating this moment for the last six months. After all, today was the day.
“Excited doesn’t describe it. I’m thrilled, I’m amazed, I’m worked up, I’m ecstatic, I’m....I’m...” Kiya searched for a word.
“Running out of synonyms.” Takisha, the Weyrling Master here at Adanuk, and the person Kiya’d been forced to answer to for the last half a turn, couldn’t help adding her two marks. Although they originally drove each other crazy, their relationship had developed into something like a grudging respect and friendship over their time as teacher and pupil. Since, amazingly enough, their was only a total of four weyrlings in the entire Weyr while she was in training, Kiya became friends with her fellow pupils and they received special attention. Kiya couldn’t say she’s exactly enjoyed striving for perfection on a daily basis, but at least it wasn’t boring.
“I don’t need more synonyms.” She smiled. “I need a new word. Something beyond excitement and anticipation.”
“Excitapation.” Takisha offered, smiling to herself. She quickly went about the business of saddling her white/gold Mandaleth while Kiya began un-saddling Bynnkyth.
Believe it or not, they were both preparing for the same thing. Today was the day Kiya and Bynnkyth took the Weyrling Class exit test. Today they proved that they were adults. And today is the day R’den is transferred to Adanuk. Kiya had never believed the old saying, ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’, until her forced absence had left her six months without the man she loved. She was practically ready to explode.
Today’s the day Shempath and I practically disappear while you and R’den return to making googly eyes at each other. Bynnkyth was more excited about becoming an adult. The idea of the test didn’t make her nervous, she knew she could easily ace it. She knew that when she did, she’d have earned acceptance into the Tenkou Wing, Adanuk’s queen wing. And all her rider could think about was R’den.
Why don’t you make googly eyes at Shempath? Kiya couldn’t help asking. She knew that one day Bynnkyth would get it into her head that she was supposed to fly and she didn’t really want anyone but Shempath to catch her.
Please... The gold would have rolled her eyes. Shempath? You’ve got to be kidding.
Kiya smiled, knowing her dragon would never admit if she did have a crush on any other dragon. She’d been told golds were very haughty, and Bynnkyth was living breathing proof of that fact. In fact, it’d been Bynnkyth’s ‘holier than thou’ attitude which had put her at odds with the Weyrling Master in the first place.
Now don’t go blaming that on me again. It was just as much your fault. The gold dragon stomped her feet angrily and shook her head. Takisha was taking too long to get set up. The gold had never been known for her patience.
Kiya smiled again. Patience. It’s a virtue. Chijou, Kiya’s golden flit, was another creature to whom virtue was unknown. The firelizard appeared from between landed on Kiya’s shoulder and began chirping loudly. She’d been left to wait in the room Kiya shared with two other of the weyrlings until the test was over, but she’d obviously gotten bored with that.
“Chijou.” Kiya used her best angry Headwoman voice. “Go back to the weyr and stay.”
“If she wants to watch Bynnkyth make a fool of herself, let her.” For some odd reason, Takisha jumped to the flit’s defence. This was odd, mainly because Takisha was normally the one telling Kiya that firelizards had no place at Weyrling Class. “Are you ready to start the test?”
“Yeah.” Kiya caught her flit and set her on a barrel. “Stay.” She turned back to Bynnkyth, Mandaleth and Takisha. “I’m ready.”
Takisha smiled. “When I say go, you have to grab your gear, saddle Bynnkyth and follow me in formation. If you’re too slow, or if you can’t keep up, you fail. Got it?”
Kiya merely nodded. She clenched and unclenched her fists for a moment, wondering why the butterflies decided to make an appearance now.
Bynnkyth still wasn’t nervous in the least. Just think. Tonight you get to see R’den whether we pass or not.
I thought you didn’t like Shempath. Kiya knew Takisha wouldn’t give her any warning before yelling ‘go’.
I don’t.? The dragon seemed to smile. I like R’den.
“GO!” Takisha startled everyone within hearing distance, including Kiya and Bynnkyth. They quickly recovered though and Kiya saddled her lifemate faster than she’d ever before. She was, after all, really excitapated.
* * * I hate her. The golden dragon had to use all her strength not to flop down on the ground when the test finally ended.
Kiya, breathless, silently agreed. Neither of them had guessed that ‘keep up’ would be a key word. How does that little white/gold move so damn fast!
I hate her.
And it would have been nice if the formation she chose to fly was one we actually used here at Adanuk instead of some outdated one we only read about.
I hate her.
You think the test would be on normal stuff, not crazy suff we’ll never use again. I mean who cares if we remember our history if we can’t fly in a normal wing...You’d think...
Kiya! The gold interupted. I think I covered everything with ‘I hate her’. The gold sighed as they waited for Takisha to finish grading their performance.
Chijou quickly reappeared and began nipping at her ear. The golden flit was obviously still anxious about something. Originally Kiya had thought that the flit was merely reacting to her anxiety, but now she was beginning to doubt that. Something else was bothering Chijou.
“What’s wrong?” She stroked the flit’s head, trying to calm it down. “Show me.”
A picture came to her of her weyr, the one she was sharing with the other weyrlings. The room was being ransacked. “Stupid sharding...” Kiya trailed off swearing as she jumped to the conclusion that her friends were playing a practical joke on her. “I’m going to get them.” By the time Takisha came to tell her her final mark, the goldrider had worked herself into such a temper that it didn’t matter anymore. How dare they ruin my day!
Kiya we passed!! Bynnkyth was dwelling on the good things opposed to the idea of their friends removing all their things.
“Yeah, yeah...” Her good mood was fading fast. “We’re adults. Yeah. Let’s go.”
Takisha raised a brow as she watched Kiya storm off. “And normally people are more excited than that...” She was still holding the new shoulder knots Kiya was supposed to have taken. “Mandaleth. Let’s drop these off in her new room.”
The white/gold smiled. You mean she’s been moved?
“Of course. The plan worked perfectly.” The Weyrling Master smiled.
* * * “Where did you put my stuff?!?” Kiya was already yelling by the time she entered the weyr.
The two other girls giggled. “Us? Touch your stuff? We wouldn’t dare.” They couldn’t stop laughing.
“This isn’t funny!!” Kiya knew that beating them to a bloody pulp wouldn’t really help matters, but she was pretty sure it wouldn’t hurt either.
“We know. By the way, we heard about your promotion. Congratulations!”
“Don’t give me that crap!! Where’s my stuff?!?” Kiya heard Bynnkyth mutter something in the back of her mind, but she was too busy to acknowledge it right now.
“We swear, we were following orders, so you can’t get mad at us.” They held up their hands in surrender.
“For the last time. Where. Is. My. Stuff?” She accented each word separately.
“In your new weyr, of course. Adults don’t share rooms.”
“Where is that?” Kiya put a hand to her temple.
“Here.” They handed her a note. “Promise you won’t read it until you’re outside.”
“Why?” She started walking towards the door, while opening the note.
“Because Takisha said you’d be really pissed.” The door slammed shut as soon as she was out. Kiya could still hear giggling behind her.
Despite the fact that the two girls were probably right and the note would piss her off, she couldn’t help smiling. What on Pern is Takisha thinking of... She opened the note and discovered her former roommates were right...she was pissed off. The note was very simple. It said, ‘Thought you could find your new weyr the same way you found mine. Face the gates, ten over, fourteen up. Good luck.’
You’re planning on blaming me again aren’t you?
* * * R’den smiled as he watched Kiya enter her new weyr and fall down on the bed beside him. "I hate her."
"She said you’d get here eventually."
"I hate her."
"You’re really stubborn aren’t you Kiya?"
"I hate her."
R’den smiled. "I get that. You want me to go?"
Kiya smiled. "No. I hate her, but I love you."
R’den kissed her. "I get that."
* * *
Read Kiya's candidate story.
Read Kiya's hatchling story.
Read Kiya’s weyrling story.
Kiya impressed Bynnkyth at Mountain's Note Weyr.
Kiya impressed Chijou at Dark Moon Weyr.
Background from Enchanted Backgrounds.
