Always in Need

Writers: AL, Kastaka
Date Posted: 25th January 2009

Characters: Zelle, Vasha
Description: Zelle reassures Vasha that she's good candidate material.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 1, day 4 of Turn 5

Drills were over. Zelle needed a bath, as did Rillith. Rillith was going to get one first, despite how icky Zelle felt. Still, her lifemate came first and Zelle wasn't going to ignore her dragon just because she wanted a bath. So, dutifully, she had gotten things together and taken care of Rillith first and foremost. By the time she was done, Zelle was soaked and she wondered if she really needed a bath after all. Of course, a good dousing was no good substitute for a proper bath so Zelle took care of that, then made her way through the halls toward the kitchens. A good mug of klah would settle really well.

Picking at her food, Vasha sat alone in the dining cavern, trying to make her meal last as long as possible. While she was eating, she could concentrate on the food, on the mechanics of life, and she didn't have to think about the Hatching that had come and gone, leaving her behind on the Sands again. She looked up as another person entered the room, hoping that it might be someone she knew to have a chat with and take her mind off things even further. But no, it wasn't one of the other candidates or anyone she was particularly familiar with. She was going to return to her food when a memory struck her - that was a searchrider, Zelle wasn't it? Maybe she could give Vasha some kind of reassurance that she wasn't just wasting her time here.

"Zelle!" called Vasha. "Have you got a moment?"

Zelle stopped and turned upon her heel. She smiled when she recognised one of the candidates - unfortunately, one who had been left standing and was still a candidate. "Hey." Name...name...name..."Vasha. Is something wrong?"

"Not really," said Vasha, in a tone of voice that implied that there was, kind of, but she didn't want to bother anyone who was busy. "Just..." she left it trailing, waiting to see what the greenrider's reaction was going to be.

Zelle cocked her head to the side. Vasha seemed kind of down. It had been a little over a sevenday since the hatching, but Zelle had a feeling it was related that. "Does have to do with our most recent event?"

"...yeah." Vasha looked apologetic. "You know. I'm doing all this dragonhealing training, and I kind of figured I'd just get a dragon by default, you know? And then I see... well... people don't, sometimes." She smiled awkwardly. "And I... I know I've got a long time yet, and probably it's just that the dragon for me has yet to be born, and all of that stuff they tell you. But..." She trailed off again, looking up at Zelle in a kind of helpless fashion.

"But?" Vasha was only making half sense to Zelle, though the rider thought she had an inkling of where the candidate was going. Still, she didn't want to assume, so waited for the girl to finish her thought.

"Well," continued Vasha, trying to work out exactly what it was she wanted to say. "I mean." She paused again. "I know all Candidates get like this. They all want to know how they can improve their chances. But... I don't even really want to do that. I don't mind if there isn't going to be a dragon in my future." She seemed slightly sad, but mostly just matter-of-fact. "I just want to know. I just want to know if it's worth me being here at all. I don't want to waste my life learning something I'll never be able to practice because I just wasn't the right kind of person."

Ah, so it wasn't quite what Zelle had thought after all. Her smile softened and she placed a hand upon the girl's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Vasha, that really isn't something I can tell you. I can't see the future, no one can, not even the dragons. People are searched, a dragon thinks they'll make a good rider, but that doesn't guarantee that they'll actually impress."

Vasha didn't quite look convinced. "I haven't been Searched," she explained. "I was just born here - well, where here was before it was here, anyway." She looked up at Zelle skeptically, hoping that she'll get the hint without being outright asked, feeling too much like a stupid holdbred worrier to do the asking herself.

"I see." Zelle got the hint all right. She wasn't that dense. "I tell you what, let me go grab that cup of klah I came here for and we can go and see my dragon, see what she says. Would that help?"

Vasha smiled at her, in a slightly embarrassed fashion. "It might," she allowed. She quickly finished off the last few bites of her meal and got up to return her tray, hopefully to be ready by the time Zelle came back with her klah.

Zelle returned a few moments later, mug in hand. She sipped at her drink while she waited for Vasha to finish the last couple of bites, then stood once the girl's plate was clean. "Come, she's just outside in the bowl"

Vasha trailed off after the greenrider, trying to keep a spring in her step and a smile on her face, but it was obvious she felt really rather foolish. What kind of silly young girl must the rider think she was, needing this kind of validiation when she was weyrbred anyway?

Zelle led Vasha through the halls and out into the bowl. In the sun, the klah didn't seem so appealing, but Zelle continued to sip at it anyway. They didn't have to wander far for Rillith had drawn closer at the request of her rider. Zelle approached the green and gave her a pat upon her emerald hide. "Vasha, this is Rillith. Rillith, this is Vasha."

Vasha smiled up at the dragon, automatically trying to radiate ease and comfort as she'd been taught to do around injured dragons. She didn't make any other attempt to communicate, as some might have done
- that was for the rider to do, not her.

**Can you see if she'll be a good candidate?** Zelle asked her lifemate while she drank more of her klah. **She's never been searched, she's Weyrbred, but would like to know if she is good material or not.**

Rillith's eyelids shut then opened and she lowered her head to draw it even with the girl. She settled there, one large blue whirling eye gazing at the girl for quite some time.

Vasha stood and gazed back at Rillith's whirling eye, not intimidated by the dragon's scrutiny. Mostly, she was lost in her own thoughts. What would she do, if the answer was no?

Finally, the dragon lifted her head and looked over to her rider, whose eyebrows went up. She shrugged, nodded, then turned to Vasha. "She says she thinks you would make a fine rider."

}:That isn't what I said. I said I couldn't tell.:{

**I don't want to tell her that. I want to give her encouragement.** Zelle stated as she calmly sipped the last of her klah. "She insisted that you keep trying - rather surprising that. She's not usually that insistent."

Vasha nodded solemnly, looking up at Zelle with an uncharacteristically shy smile. "Thank you," she said, sincerely. "I'm sorry to have bothered you."

"It's not a bother at all." Zelle waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. "I don't mind. You just keep your chin up and keep trying like Rillith said."

"Yes, ma'am," said Vasha in a rather joking tone. "I guess I had better be getting back to my dragonhealing hides, then."

"Definitely. We're always in need of good dragonhealers." Of course, the girl could only go so far without a dragon. Zelle really hoped she did impress and was a bit perturbed at Rillith's rather hazy assessment - it was rare for her not to be certain one way or another.

"See you around, Zelle," smiled Vasha as she turned away and headed back towards the candidate barracks.

Last updated on the January 27th 2009

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Always in Need