Tales from the Weyrlings' Barracks Chapter 1

A/N
This is a series of short stories that show how ordinary people begin to turn into dragon-riders. The focus is on two very minor characters mentioned in "Dragonquest," chapter 14: Birto, bronze Cabenth's rider, who was a friend of Felessan, and Pellomar, green Ladrarth's rider, who was described as a bully. Both Impressed their dragons at the same hatching at which Jaxom impressed and Brekke didn't. That's just about all we know about them, so the rest of their lives are an open book for fanfic authors like me to write in.

o

The new riders and their newly-hatched dragons made their way down from the hatching grounds to the floor of the Weyr, where the riders were looking forward to food, entertainment, and greetings from their relatives and friends. The dragons liked the "food" part very much; instead of entertainment, they wanted oil on their itchy hides; and they weren't concerned with any humans other than their own riders. Their feelings for those riders went beyond adoration, almost to the point of worship. Most of those riders weren't used to that kind of positive attention. But it was useless for a rider to tell a dragon that the dragon was mistaken, that the rider really wasn't that great. The dragon had already made up his mind, and there was no shifting his opinion on the matter.

Birto's parents, Maratto (a Benden Weyr cook) and Birsi (a laundry-woman from the Lower Caverns), could barely contain their pride. Their oldest son had Impressed a dragon... and not just any dragon, but a bronze! They could have imagined no higher destiny for him as he was growing up in the Weyr, and now it had come true in front of all the Weyrleaders, Lord Holders, and Masters of Pern. Never more would Birto have to do drudge work! He would become a leader among the dragon riders, perhaps a Wingsecond or even a Wingleader. Not only that, but now his younger brother would be seen as a potential rider as well. This meant no real change in the lives of Maratto and Birsi, except that, from now on, they would not be referred to as Maratto the cook and Birsi the drudge. They would now be known as Maratto and Birsi, the parents of bronze-rider Birto. That was enough for them. They eagerly introduced him to anyone who walked near them, showing proper respect to the ones who outranked them, but with undiminished enthusiasm toward all.

Birto himself was oblivious to everything and everyone except his newfound friend. Cabenth couldn't say enough good things about him, in between his demands for more food and his pleas for relief from his itching hide. Birto wasn't concerned that he was now a bronze rider and a future leader at Benden Weyr. He was just lost in the beauty of those whirling blue eyes, and was quick with another chunk of meat or another swipe of the oil paddle the moment those blue eyes faded to some other color. He tried to focus on greeting the people who stopped by to congratulate him, but his mind was elsewhere. The weyrfolk understood. His family kept trying to draw his attention back to his surroundings, but with little success.

Pellomar's parents, blue rider P'ross and his weyrmate Kamara, were equally proud. Every dragon rider hoped that his children would also Impress a dragon, and these things did tend to run in families, but it was by no means a certainty until the moment of Impression. Both of them knew the proverb, "The dragon chooses," but they hoped with all their hearts that a dragon would choose Pellomar, and green Ladrarth had done exactly that. Their son would follow in his father's footsteps. Their pride was every bit as heartfelt as that of Maratto and Birsi, even though their son had not "dragoned up" (a Lower Caverns expression for someone who Impressed a better dragon than his dragon-riding parent).

As for Pellomar, he was as enchanted with his new dragon friend as any of the other riders, but his regard was tinged with regret. He had really thought he deserved a bronze dragon, or a big brown like Canth at worst, and while Ladrarth was beautiful and well-formed, she was also a green. She picked up on his feelings immediately.

Aren't you happy with me?

"Of course I am!" Pellomar blurted out. "You're the most beautiful green dragon in this entire Weyr! I just wish you'd be bigger."

Some greens grow to be almost as big as a blue. Maybe I will be one of those. Would that make you happy with me?

"I'm happy with you just the way you are," Pellomar said. "We're going to be the best Thread-fighting team on Pern!" As he said it, he realized that he meant it. It would have been pointless to try to lie to her anyway; he could keep no secrets from her. Was she changing his way of thinking? Or was his thinking changing on its own, because he was now a green rider?

Ladrarth bent down and licked her foreleg several times. My leg is itchy. Can you help me?

"Yes, I will, right away!" he exclaimed as he turned and looked for the nearest oil bucket. It was a well-timed interruption; his overbearing uncle was headed their way, probably with a choice assortment of snide remarks about tiny, insignificant green dragons, and Pellomar just didn't want to hear it. Even if Ladrarth was a green, she was his green, and that changed everything.

There was one other new rider that day, someone who was supposed to be nothing but an honored spectator. Jaxom and Ruth were the last new pair to leave the Hatching Grounds, because Ruth was so late to hatch, and they would take longer than any of the others to reach the bottom of the Bowl, because Ruth walked so slowly compared to his larger brothers and sisters. Jaxom was okay with that; he was just staring with wonder at the white dragon who had suddenly become his closest friend.

Felessan caught up with him easily as they left the hatching sands, with Lessa and F'lar right behind him. He looked worried, which was unusual for him. "Jaxom, what have you done?"

"I Impressed a dragon... I think," the young man answered. "I'm not sure. It happened so fast!"

You Impressed me well.

"Well, Ruth says I Impressed him, so I guess I did. I mean, a dragon can't be wrong about something like that, can he?"

"The dragon is never wrong," Lessa said as she stopped next to him. "But the rider... sometimes I wonder. What were you thinking, Jaxom?"

"I was thinking that the egg was in distress, and somebody needed to help him," Jaxom said defensively. "Did I do something wrong?"

"In terms of how the Weyrs work, what you just did was good and noble," F'lar told him. "But in terms of how the Holds work, you may have just cut off your own right arm."

"I don't understand," Jaxom said.

Lessa looked aggrieved. "Don't you realize how much Lytol has given up so you could become Lord Holder of Ruatha? Don't you realize what I gave up for you? But now, the other Lord Holders are sure to say that you're a dragon rider now, so you'll have to stay here! Ruatha is going to become Lordless! My lovely Hold won't be ruled by its Bloodline anymore, but by bloodletting instead! Every ambitious Lord's son who sees a chance to become a Lord Holder himself is going to fight duels with the others, and the winner will take it all! The next Lord Holder of Ruatha will be the biggest brute, not the best leader!"

"It might not be that bad," F'lar cut her off. "No one has made any decisions about Jaxom's future yet."

"But they will," Jaxom said bitterly. "That's what people do – they make my decisions for me. Just this once, I made my own decision, and now you're telling me it's going to be the biggest disaster on Pern since Thread started falling!"

"Then maybe," Lessa said, trying to sound less angry, "maybe it's time for you to make a decision about this new situation of yours. You're a future Lord Holder, and you are also a future dragon rider." She omitted the part about "assuming Ruth lives to adulthood," and went on. "If you don't want others to make your decisions for you, then you need an idea that's better than theirs, and you need some good reasons why your idea should soar over theirs."

"That's a tall order for a young man who's about to be beset by senior Lord Holders," F'lar commented.

"How much time do I have to come up with this amazing idea?" Jaxom asked, his nervousness beginning to grow.

"You'd better have something ready by the time you reach the bottom of the bowl," Lessa said tartly. "After that, I'm afraid it's going to be open season on white-dragon riders. You'd better arrange to take good care of Ruatha, or..." She ran out of words, turned, and stalked away down the ramp. F'lar followed her.

Am I a problem? Ruth sounded concerned.

"No, you're not a problem!" Jaxom was quick to reassure his small white friend. "I've definitely got problems, but you aren't one of them. You're just wonderful."

"Jaxom, what are you going to do?" Felessan pressed him.

"I... I don't know," he admitted. "If I stay in Benden, then that means trouble for Ruatha, for sure. Lessa and Lytol have given up too much so I can become Lord Holder of Ruatha Hold. I can't just walk away from that. But how can I train Ruth if I'm not in a weyr? I don't know what I'm going to do." He glanced down. "I mean, I don't know what we're going to do."

"I'll bet the other Lord Holders will have something to say about it," Felessan remarked. "The other Weyrleaders, too."

"I'm sure they will," Jaxom said sourly. "Everybody has their own idea about what I should do, and nobody will ask me what I think I should do!"

I think we should be together.

"That's a given," Jaxom said, and he had to smile in spite of the world of possible problems that awaited him at the bottom of the bowl. "No matter what anybody tells us, we will be together! Come on, let's keep walking. The longer it takes us to get there, the more crazy ideas people will have about us." He tried to sound confident, but his pale complexion gave away his inner anxiety. If not for Ruth, he would have taken the next dragon back to Ruatha and hidden away for a week.

The guests had more to talk about today than at the usual hatching. Some speculated on what it meant that Brekke had tried to re-Impress a queen, and had been blocked by her own fire lizard. The consensus of opinion was that such a thing had never happened before, and there was probably a reason for that, so things had turned out for the best. Most of the people who took that opinion were holders and craftsmen who knew next to nothing about Weyr traditions, but that didn't stop them from forming an opinion on the subject.

But the greatest source of gossip by far was the future Lord Holder Jaxom and the tiny, miscolored dragon who had somehow bonded itself to him. What did it mean? What were the implications? Some said he would have to stay in the Weyr to raise his dragon for as long as it lived, and Ruatha Hold would become lordless. Others glanced at Lytol, still an emotional wreck after all those dragonless years, and wondered if Jaxom was destined for such inner ruin after Ruth died. A few wondered how a huge queen dragon like Ramoth could have laid such a tiny egg in the first place. As the party drew to an end and the new riders gathered in the weyrlings' barracks to find sleeping places with their dragons, they couldn't help talking about it among themselves.

"Maybe Ruth is half dragon and half wherry," Pellomar suggested. "That would explain his size and the white color."

"Numbwit!" Birto shot back. "Wherries and dragons can't make eggs together!"

"If a male wherry put a move on Ramoth," Jaxom added, "Mnementh would swoop down and eat it. I've heard that he doesn't like competition where Benden's senior queen is involved. One pounce, and there'd be nothing left but a cloud of feathers."

"I'd like to see the wherry that could even try to catch Ramoth in the air," Benden's WeyrlingMaster, K'lune, chimed in as he walked by. "For a big dragon, that gold can move!"

Pellomar was about to tell Birto exactly what he thought of him, but the triple rebuke took him aback mentally. He turned to Ladrarth, who quickly reassured him that he was not a numbwit; he just needed to learn more about dragons.

As they spread out, some of the dragons occasionally asked for one more swipe with the oil paddle. Ruth was one of those.

Jaxom, could you spread some oil on my left hind leg? It itches me horribly.

Wordlessly, a fatigued Jaxom got up, found an oil pail in the growing darkness, and brought back the paddle to oil his dragon's leg.

That is much better. Thank you.

The future Lord of Ruatha Hold, who normally told servants and drudges to do that kind of work, rubbed his dragon's eye ridge affectionately, then replaced the paddle in the bucket. As soon as he returned...

Now, could you oil my right hind leg?

Jaxom sighed. This time, he moved the bucket closer to where he and Ruth would spend the night.

"Hey!" someone called in the darkness. "We need that oil, too!"

"I think we all need it," Jaxom answered the unknown complainer. "I just moved it to a central location so we all can reach it quicker."

"You could have left it where it was," the first voice muttered.

"Are you pulling rank on us, Lord Holder?" someone else demanded.

"I'm not a Lord Holder," he responded. "I'm just the rider of a brand-new, very itchy dragon, just like all of you. I think there's enough oil for everyone." He bent to apply the oil to Ruth's other leg.

"Now, do you think you can sleep?" he asked his dragon.

I might need some oil on my belly soon, but not right away.

As Jaxom shook his head in disbelief, Birto approached him. "If you're done with that paddle, can I use it, please? Cabenth says his neck is itchy."

"I can believe that," Jaxom smiled as he handed over the paddle. "I think a plague of Igen sand-fleas wouldn't make you as itchy as these dragons are."

Someone snorted in the darkness. It was probably C'farr, blue Analth's new rider. He was the second son to a minor Holder in Igen, and he would know a thing or two about Igen sand-fleas.

Pellomar rolled over to face where he thought Jaxom was standing. "Okay, Jaxom who isn't a Lord Holder, can you tell me something? Is your dragon a real dragon?"

"He's just as real as your dragon is," Jaxom shot back defensively. "Go ahead. Ask your dragon to talk to mine. Tell us what you learn."

There was a moment's pause while the dragons and riders exchanged mental messages. Pellomar was glad that the others couldn't see him in the dark, because his expression showed more astonishment than he wanted to admit. "Ladrarth says Ruth is just like all the other dragons here! But he's so small! How can he be a real dragon? I don't get it."

Birto smiled in the darkness. "Lessa is small. Do you want to tell her that she isn't a real Weyrwoman? I kind of hope you try it. I'd love to watch." There were several snorts and stifled laughs from the Weyrbred boys all around the sleeping area.

After a few moments, they heard Jaxom softly saying, "Of course you're a real dragon!"

Do you wish I was bigger, like the other dragons?

"No, I don't," Jaxom said firmly. "If you were bigger, then one of the hatching candidates would have Impressed you, and then I never would have known you! I love you just the way you are. You're perfect for me."

Those were the last words spoken before sleep overtook them all.