Chap. 297 Figuring out the future
Raventh plunged his head into the dragon trough and drank deeply. Siskin, his hind legs hooked into the collar just behind Raventh’s’ head, reached over to drink until the water level dropped below his reach.
When I see their heads side by side, I’m astonished at the difference in size. The big dragon is, with a few tweaks to the genome, the same as the small one!
“How clever of you, Sis,” he said. The blue chirped, and, having slaked his thirst, flew to his shoulder. He reached up to scritch the fire lizards’ eye ridges. Siskin purred in appreciation.
How I love these moments, when it’s just us three.
It was early evening. They’d spent the entire day out surveying. I’ll go get some dinner, then, I think, I’ll see what I can find out about the animal, a ‘wallawait’ that the children at Big Lagoon had mentioned.
Raventh raised his head, water dripping from his jaws. He snorted to clear his nostrils, the spray hitting K’ndar in the face. He wiped it away.
Hey! I prefer my shower, thank you very much.
You are welcome.
Sarcasm, he’d learned long before, is wasted on dragons.
I needed the flying today. I feel tired but in a good way Raventh said.
I am too, K’ndar said, we got a lot of area covered even though there’ are encroaching settlements everywhere. That lake is bigger than I thought it would be.
And full of fish! I hadn’t expected to be able to go fishing, but we all did. I had several fish. I was hoping to see dolphins but Corvuth said there aren’t any in the lake. Why is that?
They live in the ocean. The water is different in the ocean than in a lake.
But there are fish in both.
Yes. I know why the waters are different but it’s more complicated than I can explain.
Raventh gave a mental shrug, dismissing it.
He unbuckled his riding harness, reflecting on their discoveries.
I am so grateful that it’s not my job to address Lord Toric and his blatant disregard for observing the boundaries of his Hold, he thought. This wasn’t his first offense, either. He’d been held accountable the last time he’d tried the same thing.
Now we know he’s got rogue dragonriders working for him. I know of at least one, T’ovar. Where are the rest from?
Lord D’nis had spent the morning with the survey crew but had to break off and return to Landing to meet with his fellow Council members. I’m sure they’ve already discussed it, he thought.
Corvuth said D’nis immediately went to talk to the Council.
I don’t ever want to be that important.
He began to roll up his harness when he noticed a frayed section. Dry rot? My harness, dry rotting? This is embarrassing.
Yes. It is too tight.
What do you mean?
When you put it on me, it squeezes me.
How had I not noticed that Raventh had matured into a solidly built brown dragon? He’d muscled up and was now a fully mature brown dragon. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d replaced the harness. For that matter, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d inspected it. It was certainly before he’d joined Landing.Could it be over six months? More?
That’s pretty stupid, K’ndar, he said to himself.
He felt even more abashed when he remembered his saddle girth breaking after he’d roped a bull, when he still lived at his family cothold. That girth had not been neglected so much as it had just been worn out. He’d fallen off his horse at a gallop and had been pretty banged up.
I should know better. And now I learn it’s been hurting my dragon.
I am so sorry! I have been using the last hole. Raventh, I’m sorry. I’m ashamed, I just didn’t think of you growing bigger.
What is ‘ashamed’?
It’s what I feel when I realize that I’ve neglected you. When I was a weyrling, we inspected our harness every day. Mostly because I had C’val breathing down my neck, and a Weyrlingmaster more than happy to have me do some dirty task as punishment. A dry rotted harness, like this one is now, might break while fighting thread. A lot of weyrlings got extra duty for neglecting their harness. But those days are gone, I don’t have B’rant or C’val berating me for neglecting to check, and I’ve not inspected it for a long time.
You’ve oiled it, yes?
No. I’m an idiot! I should give myself extra duty!
But you’ve oiled me and Siskin. Do dragons dry rot?
No. Leather is dead skin. It breaks when it’s too old or has been neglected, like I did. Your skin is alive, it grows, it sloughs off, remember how itchy you get before I oil you?
Yes. I like it when you oil me, I like it when Siskin gives me scritches between my wings and behind my ears. He can reach spots you can’t.
Yes, that’s true. What would we do without Siskin?
Siskin chortled and launched into the sky, flashing his wings. He knew when he was being complimented.
He is my friend. I wouldn’t want to be without him.
I agree.
So I need a bigger harness. Can we get one here?
Probably not, there’s so few dragons here, and I don’t think they have the leather supplies I need to make a new one. But tomorrow is a rest day, we’ll go to the Weyr and get a new one. I’m sure Glyena would be glad to help me make a harness.
She made my collar.
She did. Is it tight on you, too?
A little. But you don’t put it on me all the time.
I should be horsewhipped. I’ll have her make a new one, too. Why didn’t you tell me it was tight?
I just didn’t think it was that bad. Is horse whipping painful?
Yes. As my stupidity should be, but it’s not. Promise me to ALWAYS tell me if the harness hurts. Promise?
I promise.
Tomorrow we’ll go to the Weyr. You can see your friends after you’re measured.
I’d like that. I haven’t seen my friends in a while. Except for Careth. He is my best friend.
And D’mitran is mine. Let’s be careful at launch, I’d hate to have the harness break.
—————————————————————————————————-
The watch dragon greeted Raventh with a high pitched bugle. Raventh rumbled a deep base reply.
I’ve never heard you say something so deep toned. Is it because the watch dragon is a green?
Raventh laughed. All the greens like me.
They should, as handsome as you are. Do you want to go swimming?
Yes. I hope we see dolphins today. They are fun to play with.
When I finish up, I’ll come down to the dock. I heard that bell towers now have a card with the ring sequences to use when it’s not an emergency.
Let’s call them now?
I have time, he thought. It’s early, maybe Glyena is still at breakfast. And the dolphins don’t mind being called just for fun. Besides, I DO want to see them again.
He unharnessed Raventh. Once he was free of the harness, Raventh lumbered down to the beach. K’ndar looked out to sea. I still miss seeing it every day, he thought.
I see their fins Raventh said. This is amazing, we didn’t call them.
A trio of dolphins stopped at the end of the dock. One of the dolphins stood on his tail and grasped the dolphin bell’s rope.
Clang clang clang clang
He hurried to the bell and looked over the side of the dock.
“Ello Keendar! Not see you in long time! Where you been?”
“Hello, you’re Leap, yes?” hoping he was right.
“Yes, yes! You reck o nize me!”
“Yes. What can I do for you?”
K’ndar heard children calling and looked over his shoulder. They were emerging from all corners of the weyr.
I’m going swimming K’ndar said, and Siskin chipped. The brown moved down the beach to avoid the dolphins and waddled into the surf.
“Keendar, Sal has bloodfish. You take off?”
Whew. I can’t say no!
“Of course. I don’t know Sal, is that you?” he pointed at the other adult dolphin.
“No. Me Para. Little one is Sal. My caff.”
“Pleased to meet you, Para,” he said.
A very small dolphin-obviously a youngster-squeee’d.
“Me have bloodfish, me,” she said. “Hurts. Hurts bad. You scrape off? Pease?”
“I’ve only seen it done once,” he warned her. Actually he’d only watched, when Siena had removed a bloodfish from Swash.
“Is okay, you did good on Swash. Cut off Sal pease?” Leap asked.
He removed his boots and shoes, and pulled his knife from his belt sheath. The children arrived.
“The dolphins! Did you call them?” one asked.
“Hey, that’s my brother! K’ndar!” he heard Glyena call.
His sister waded through the mix of kids.
“Why did you call them?” one of them asked.
“I didn’t. They called me. Sal, the small one, has a bloodfish and I’m going to take it off.”
Glyena said, “Right. I’m going to help. I’ve been studying.” She quickly shed her boots and trousers.
“Can I help?” said one.
“No. You kids stay on the dock and watch.”
Her tone was kind, but firm. She was growing more confident, he thought.
“You’ve been studying? What?”
“Dolphins,” she said, flatly.
K’ndar stepped down into the sea. It was colder than he remembered. Well, it is coming on winter. And I don’t like being too deep. I’m a poor swimmer.
“Eek. The water is cold,” Glyena said, having followed him.
The dolphins came in close.
“We come in shore, Keendar. Sal need not much water as me and Para,” Leap said.
The water was up to his thighs. It was up to Glyena’s waist.
“Leap. Too shallow? Water not deep enough? I don’t want you beaching,” he asked, worrying.
“We okay. Sal small, me and Para, we be careful. Tide coming in, too, ” Leap reassured him.
“They’re okay, K’ndar,” Glyena said. “We can’t get too deep ourselves. We can’t cut it off if she’s much higher than our waist. And we don’t have a lot of time.”
“Thanks, Gly. I’m not a good swimmer,” he confessed. She won’t tease me. I hope. Where is she getting this confidence?
“I’ll teach you, K’ndar. I’ve gotten pretty good at it,” she said.
Sal moved up to them. She whimpered, a sound that pierced his heart.
She stroked the small dolphin. “Ick. I see it,” she said. “It’s just behind her near flipper.”
“Make hard to move,” Sal said.
“Okay, let’s get the blasted thing off you,” she said.
Leap and Para moved in and bracketed Sal.
“We help you. You hold caff, we hold you,” Leap said.
He felt their cool, sleek bodies on his legs.
K’ndar gulped, frantically trying to remember how Siena had done this. He’d been assigned to pull the bloodfish, so he’d not paid a lot of attention to her knife work.
“Now, stay still, Sal? This might hurt,” he said, hoping he sounded more confident than he felt.
“Hurts now.”
Leap squeaked a reassurance to her.
Sal rolled over onto her side, her blowhole just above the surface. The bloodfish was a small one, fortunately, but had its sucker firmly set just behind one of her flippers. The bloodfish was tight up against Sal’s side. He wracked his brain, trying to remember how Siena had done it.
Glyena moved up beside him.
“Um. Good thing it’s a small one,” she said. She touched Sal on the melon.
“What your name?” Leap asked.
“Glyena. I’m Glyena,” she said.
“Genna help Keendar take fish off?”
“Yes”
She stroked the dolphin calf. “We’ll take that thing off you right now, Sal.”
“Pease. Hurts.”
“Glyena. Take hold of the bloodfish. Be careful, its skin is rough.”
“No, K’ndar, give me the knife. I learned how to do it.”
“When Siena did it, she had us hold onto the fish. It fought hard, we both fell into the water when she stabbed it in the head.”
“I know, but that was before Master Dolphineer Readis wrote a book about how to take care of dolphins. I’ve been reading it, K’ndar. I know what to do. I just haven’t ever done it.”
K’ndar paused, part of him afraid to do the deed and part of him afraid to let his sister do it. What if he hurt the dolphin? What if she did? How can I give this responsibility to a kid?
Trust her. The dolphins are, Raventh said.
“K’ndar, give me the knife.”
“Um..”
“I’m serious. Please. You hold onto the fish,” Glyena said. “You need to keep it straight out, okay? Lift it up enough so that I can get the knife under it. Don’t pull. Just keep it lifted and straight so I can get the knife underneath to cut the head off.”
The children watched, entranced. Raventh had quietly moved closer.
“Gly, the last time we did this, Siena stabbed the fish in the head and it came out whole.”
“And pulling the fish off made the hole bigger. You have to cut the head off, K’ndar. Please. I’ve been studying, and besides, Siena’s busy and Salish is working on a gelding. Give me the knife. You hold the fish like I said.”
His baby sister, giving him orders. Yet, I don’t know better.
“Gly…”
She stared him in the eye and put out her hand.
“Trust me, K’ndar. Trust me.”
Relenting (gladly), he gave her the knife. He then grasped the fish, wishing he’d worn his gloves. But they were leather. The fish rolled a flat, empty eye at him. There wasn’t even a glimmer of intelligence in it. Shards but you’re an evil thing, he thought.
She looked at the knife. “Good. Only one edge.”
“And sharp as blazes, Gly. Be careful.”
“Got the fish?”
“Aye.”
“Lift it. More. A little more. Good.”
He felt the fish twist. It felt like a living tree limb. He tightened his grip, hoping to distract it. If I could squeeze you to death, I would, he thought.
“Sal, be very still. I don’t want to cut you,” Glyena said.
“I be still. Cut it out, hurts. Hurts,” the yearling said.
Leap said, “We hold you, you hold fish. You cut fish head off.”
Glyena hesitated for a moment, looking for the best attack angle. She gently slid the knife in between Sal’s skin and just behind the bloodfish’s head. She twisted it gently, the blunt side of the blade against Sal’s skin, then sliced upwards in one swift move.
K’ndar, expecting the fish to fight, was surprised when the fish’s body convulsed, then went limp.
“Ah,” she said, satisfied. “Just like the book said!”
She handed him the knife. Then she firmly and steadily pulled on the head. “If you do it right,” she gasped, “the sucker comes with it.”
It did. Sal squeaked. Glyena flourished the head in victory.
“YAY!” The kids yelled
He was surprised to see how small the wound was.
“Glyena! That’s incredible! You did it! Well done! I couldn’t have done that,” he said, filled with an immense pride in his sister.
She grinned. “Told you so,” she smirked.
“Oh!! Feels good! ” Sal cried.
“Can we see? Can we see it?” the kids called.
Glyena tossed the head onto the dock, scattering the more fearful.
“Lookit those teeth!”
“Ewww!”
“Don’t touch the teeth,” she shouted.
“What do we do with it?”
K’ndar said, “Leave it. I’ll take care of it.” I want to get a good sketch of that thing, he thought. I’ll put it in a sack full of sawdust, take it back to Landing and let the crawlers and insects clean the skull.
“Genna,” Sal whispered. “Tank you Genna. Tank you.”
“Tank you, Genna. Tank you for help my caff,” Para said.
“You’re welcome, Sal. Para, your baby is beautiful.”
She stroked the yearling on her melon. The little dolphin bleated like a young lamb.
“Yes, bootiful.”
Leap moved to Glyena and touched her with his beak.
“You very good. You like Keendar?”
“Of course! He’s my brother.”
“Brudder.”
“Same mother. Same father,” K’ndar said. He started to scratch Sal under the chin.
“Unnerstand!”
“Feel good. No stop,” Sal said.
Do the dolphins want to play? Raventh asked.
“Leap, my dragon, Raventh, wants to play.”
“Okay!” Leap said.
“Can Sal play, after having bloodfish removed?”
Sal giggled. “I better now! Genna, tank you! I like to play, I can!” Para moved into deeper water. Sal followed her, then erupted from the sea in one sleek move. She twisted in midair and splashed on her back, sending up a sheet of water that soaked the kids at the end of the dock.
The children screamed in laughter.
“See. Me better, Genna!”
Glyena laughed.
“Does she need antibiotic?”
“I don’t think so, K’ndar. They have really strong immune systems,” she said.
“You swim with dolphin today?” Leap asked.
“Not today, Leap,” he said.
He climbed up onto the dock, being careful to not stab himself with the knife. One of the kids brought him a towel.
“Thank you, that was kind of you,” K’ndar said, wiping his chest and legs.
“You’re welcome, sir. You’re Glyena’s big brother.”
“Yes.”
“Someday, I want to be a dragon rider. Like you.”
He looked the boy in the eye. “You will probably be a good one.”
He turned to look at his sister, still in the water with Leap.
She scritched Leap under his chin. He closed his eyes in bliss. Then he said,
“Genna. You do good scrape off bloodfish. You dolphineer?”
“Not yet,” she said, smiling, “but soon.”
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