The Little Weyrleader

Writers: Eimi, Shelly
Date Posted: 11th May 2006

Characters: Corvera, U'kaiah, Kaiafel
Description: Corvera gets help washing her gold from a little friend and his mysterious father
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 12, day 16 of Turn 3

"Can I wash her too?" the little boy asked Corvera with large pleading brown eyes. "I can help. I've washed a gold before."

"Of course you can, little man." Corvera smiled and beckoned the youth to her side in the shallows. "But first you have to meet my gold. Would you like to say hello to her?"

"Hello," Kaiafel said with an enthusiastic bow the way he Da had taught him when greeting a gold.

Corvera giggled a little as Mnaiath communicated with her. "She says it's a pleasure to meet you and that you're more than welcome to help wash her. Do you already know how?"

"Oh yeah," he said picking up a brush. "I helped Jaela sometimes. And my Da's got a bronze."

"Oh yea?" This was the first time she realized she had no idea who's weyrbrat she was dealing with. "Who's your Da?" She asked, getting back to work herself.

"He is," Kaiafel laughed and waved at the bronzerider walking down the beach. "Da! This is Corvera! She's a Weyrwoman, and she has a gold dragon!"

Corvera swept a long braid over her shoulder and shaded her eyes with a delicate hand. The form of the man coming toward her looked rather familiar but with the sun it was hard to tell. "I hope you don't mind, but your son and I have rather taken a liking to each other."

"No, I don't mind," U'kaiah said with a small smile, roughing up his son's hair affectionately. "He seems to have a thing for goldriders.
Don't you son."

"They are the most biggest dragons at the Weyr Da. Look, she's even bigger than Kalamath," the son beamed.

"Much bigger, Kaiafel." The bronzerider then turned to nod politely at the Weyrwoman. "Good day Weyrwoman. I'm surprised to find you washing your dragon out of doors. A touch of Spring Fever is it?"

"It seems to be." Corvera looked down and tried to cover her surprise.
_U'kaiah_ was Kaiafel's father? The things she didn't know about this man certainly seemed to be endless.

"This is my Da," the little boy said proudly, wrapping his arm around the man's leg and smiling up at him. "His name is U'kaiah. His bronze is Kalamath."

"We've met before, son," the bronzerider said giving the goldrider an apologetic smile. "Yes, but this is the first time you've been introduced as 'Da.' It seems I learn something else about you everyday."

"Everyday?" he asked with a surprised lift of his eyebrows. "Well, give it a turn and you'll know everything there is to know about me."

"I suspect it would take much longer than that." She turned back to her task at hand. "So what brings you out here? Kaiafel?"

"Actually, I'm just walking back. Kalamath was eating and now he wants to lay in the sun with some of the other dragons." U'kaiah shrugged.
"It seems I've been left to travel on two legs for a while." He gave his son's hair one more rough up. "And I would recognize this black curly mop from a mile away, so I thought I'd say hi."

"It is rather distinctive." Now that she thought about it, Corvera was a little surprised that she hadn't picked up on how much Kaiafel resembled his father. "Like father like son, hm?"

"For the Weyr's sake I hope not," the bronzerider smiled.

Kaiafel was starting to get bored with all the 'grown-up talk'. "Can I start washing her now?"

"Yes, sir!" Corvera gave the boy a little salute. "Would you like to start on her back if I lift you way up there?"

The boy nodded enthusiastically. "I can do that!"

"Well, do you need another extra pair of hands?" U'kaiah asked turning to the Weyrwoman.

"I could use a some extra help - _if_ it's all right with Kaiafel, of course!" Corvera looked to the little man for an answer.

"Yeah, Da, come on!" Kaiafel grabbed his father's hand and began pulling him towards the waiting gold. "You can wash her tail, cause you're tall and the water is deeper on that end."

U'kaiah looked at the Weyrwoman with a smile. "Sounds like the little Weyrleader has spoken."

Corvera laughed, she liked seeing U'kaiah interacting with his son. He seemed more relaxed and open then he usually was around her. "So it would seem! The tail it is then!" While Corvera couldn't think of a solitary thing to say to U'kaiah, she did make sure that she worked her way over to his side rather quickly.

"I hope Kaiafel doesn't bother you too much. He can get a little...
demanding of a persons attention at times." Of course, he suspected that was part of the reason he and Jaela had gotten along so well. The boy certainly wasn't shy around adults, or strangers.

"He's adorable, U'kaiah." Corvera kept her focus on Mnaiath, she wasn't going to risk getting all flustered by looking at him and saying something dumb. "He's not bothering me. I just wish I knew a little more about his father..." She hinted.

U'kaiah looked at the goldrider out of the corner of his eye. "Oh yeah?
What does the Weyrwoman want to know?"

"How are you handling your new duties? I know working with weyrlings isn't the kind of thing you're used to, but I just want to be sure that you're doing all right."

"We're all doing just fine, thank you," the bronzerider replied evenly.
He would do anything to get his wing back, but he certainly wasn't happy about it. But he suspected she already knew that.

"I'm glad to hear it." She stole a look at him. "I hear you're actually doing quite well with the new weyrlings. They seem to like you."

"Some of them, I suppose." He couldn't help a slight smile as he thought about one weyrling in particular who seemed to like him an awful lot.

Corvera gave a weak smile and turned back to her work. **Shells, you have more to say to his son than you do to him...** She resigned to working the rest of the afternoon in silence.

Last updated on the May 11th 2006

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

The Little Weyrleader