Co-conspirators

Writers: Clancey, Len
Date Posted: 14th January 2011

Characters: N'klar, G'wen
Description: N'klar finds Galwen being bullied, rescues him, and immediately enlists his help with a scheme.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 12, day 4 of Turn 5

N'klar

A new prank had occurred to the bluerider, who
had Julerith's eager support. He was going to get P'len this time!
Grinning almost evilly - a look completely out of place on the normally
so cheerful face - N'klar was foraging in the storage caverns. See, he
made sure that the Headwoman and all the kitchen workers knew him
and were familiar with him, and loved him. It made is so _much_
easier to scrounge food and drink at the odd hours the bluerider kept.
To that end, he was hunting up some stuff, knowing Tatitem wouldn't
care.

Humming as he walked along the corridor to the room of his
choice, he heard voices raised in angry shouts around the corner.
This was not a completely quiet path, so he wasn't suprised to find
other people. But ..angry... that was new.

Pausing, he listened, trying to identify the voices and if he wanted to 'interfere'. "We found you, brat! Now you'll get it!" came a voice N'klar didn't recognize. But, it didn't matter. It didn't sound good.

So, he went on around the corner and found a not too unusual
sight. Weyrbrats and holdbrats being Candidates in the same place
inevitably led to fights. Most times, the kids learned to get along.

But not always. And smaller kids were forever being picked on by
bigger kids. It was just the way it was. But this smaller kid he
recognized. Galwen. Galwen's da was a friend of N'klar's, and he
knew the boy anyway from his frequent forays into the
kitchen. Normally a shy, quiet lad, N'klar had him picked out for a future greenrider for at least a turn now and had been keeping an 'eye'
on him.

"Here now. I'm sure you all have somewhere else to
be." N'klar said with that same evil grin still in place. He took a
few more steps toward the boys. "Don't you?"

Galwen was never so happy to see someone in his life. After weeks of hiding, bloody Nadden had finially found him. He never should have agreed to do the glow run. With a sigh close to a sob, the small boy ran behind the bluerider and burried his face in his back. Forget being brave, he was just relieved to be in one piece.

Nadden, after one hard look at N'klar's knots and fully adult
body, designed discretion was the better part of valor and turned away
and disappeared.

Frowning after the other boy a moment, N'klar finally turned back
to Galwen. "Hey, Galwen. Its alright, ok?" He extended his arms to
hold the youngster for a moment, letting him cry if he wanted, or just
relish being safe. "Those other younglings pick on you alot, do they?"

Now that Nadden had disappeared, Galwen unwedged himself from the
bluerider. Shards, he must think him a right silly fool. The
arms felt nice though. Blushing a bit, he nodded at N'klar's question.
"Actually, I think poor Savin gets it more. But yeah, those jerks will
go after anything they can. If life in the Hold is so bloody
wonderful, why don't they just go back?"

He peered down the corridor to where Nadden had escaped, and
sighed. He'd better Impress on his first try or life was going to be
horrible here. And this was_his_home, not bloody Nadden's or
any of the other bullies. Under his breath he muttered, "it's not fair."

"No, lad. Its not fair. But..." And here he took on his "wise
N'klar" tone, the one that had made his little sister laugh at him
because he was so _far_ from wise. "..look. No one ever promised
that the life at the Weyr or being a dragonrider would be easy, did
they? Bullying like that doesn't pay at a Weyr, not especially when you
get caught and punished regularly. Eventually, even louts like those
give it up as a bad job. Usually, anyway. Granted, dragonriders
aren't perfect and there are some of us that are right wherry's arses.

Well maybe more than some. But mostly the type of person dragons choose
are not bullies. Mostly." He paused, knowing that his statement didn't
catch every dragonrider. There were some bad ones and
there would always be, but still the dragons were pretty smart.

}:Smarter than our riders anyway:{ Julerith piped up in his mind, lurking in his thoughts as the blue almost always did.

Ignoring his smart-alec blue dragon -again as usual - N'klar went on. "So, you want to walk with me a while? They won't bother you while you're with me. I was just going to go digging in stores and a flexible youngling like you would be good company." He grinned down at Galwen, one finger tilting up his chin so he'd look at him.

"Sure..sure, okay." He wondered if N'klar liked what he saw.
With a sigh, he thought probably not. No one else seemed to. At the
rate he was going, the only way he was going to see anything
like_that_was to Impress a green.

N'klar sighed and stood back to his full height. "You don't have to,
lad. I just know you'll be safe with me." His smile broke out
again,though, rather quickly. "But I'm planning a prank on P'len and
you can help..." He added teasingly, hoping to draw a smile from the
boy.

Galwen chuckled at that. "What, poor P'len doesn't already have enough on his plate?" he teased the bluerider. P'len had recently broken it off with his longtime weyrmate and just about everyone in the Weyr knew. It didn't help that the girl had shouted him down in front of everyone the other night at the dinner hour.

Wise N'klar tone again, the bluerider said mock-seriously, "I'll
have you know, Galwen, that it is part of the job of your very good
friends to sometimes over-flow your plate and make you scream. Its one
way we show our love for our friends." The serious face cracked
immediately though and that almost evil looking smirk returned. "I can
teach you all about pranking your friends if you want to learn..." He
whispered conspiratorily. "But you can't tell anyone _who_ showed you."

Galwen giggled, covering his mouth. Really, it was a silly sound, not one worthy of a co-conspiriator. Nodding his head, he agreed to whatever prank they were up to. Whispering, he said, "I promise not to tell_anyone._So what are we going to do?"

N'klar grinned, enjoying the sound of a youngling giggling. He missed
his youngest sister so very much. Galwen, for all he was a boy,
reminded him so much of her - needing help, help he could give, and
gladly would.

"Well, I want to find a really nice flask or set of glasses. We're
going to give P'len a gift of his favorite wine, but its going to be
laced with a little something that will turn his lips blue. It will
taste so very good, he'll have to have several glasses. In fact, you
and I could go over and encourage him to drink, but have to bring our
own wine, you understand. But, we need some special glasses or a new
flask to make it a good gift. So thats what we're going to go looking
for.... " He grinned down at the boy as they arrived at the first
storage room. It was fun to have someone to share this stuff with, he
was thinking, and the youngling did need a friend so very badly.

Galwen rubbed his lip, thinking. "There's some_really_pretty glasses in the back. You remember poor old Maydre? They're her's, so if we're
careful not to break them, we can probably use them for a bit." While
he talked he led the man back into the dusty back wall, where several
bags of leather lay on the shelves. "This is where all the unclaimed
stuff goes when someone dies. I think they're...yes, right up there, in
that red bag." He pointed to the top shelf where a small bag lay
tightly bundled up.

"Those sound perfect, Galwen." he grinned
broadly and reached for the red bag in question, peeking inside. "Oh
yes! These are great. We might even keep them for your birthingday,
eh?" A companionable arm slipped around him and they began to head back
out of the storage rooms. "Lets go get P'len drunk." That grin
resurfaced.

"Do we need to make up the blue stuff? Or is that already ready?" Galwen
blinked a bit at the meantion of his birthingday. Outside his da, T'bel
and his fostermother, no one
ever remembered the day the small lad was born. Perhaps that's why
everyone thought he was younger than he was. If he was thought of at all.

"I have that all made up already. We just need to stop by my weyr and
fetch it. We'll mix it with the wine and then I'll see if P'len
wants to come over for a
while. You can stay if you like, though I would hate for people to
think that a bluerider _and_ a bronzerider were taking advantage of a
poor young weyrbrat." He grinned down at the boy. "Its up to you,
lad. If not, I'll see you on your birthingday for sure, we'll have a
party or something, hmm?"

"Please! Like I'd miss out now." It sounded much more fun than more drudgery in the kitchen. He
was already walking in front of the blue rider, leading him back to his
own weyr. As N'klar was a mate of his da and of T'bel, he knew where to
go.

N'klar laughed and followed Galwen right along. He was glad for more than one reason, now, that he'd "rescued" the lad.

Last updated on the January 23rd 2011

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Co-conspirators