Arturo- written around 2001

"Um... His hair's green, Rox..." Rue whispered to her sister. Rockzanna had been allowed out of Silvermoon weyr for a little bit, as the eggs hardened. She'd passed her weyrling training early, impressing the weyrling masters.

But she stopped in at Lasair, to greet her sister, and discovered that lo-and-behold her one true spark in life, Arturo, was standing at their sands, with her sister!

"Isn't it wonderful?" Rox whispered back.

Arturo heard her distinct whisper and turned. His big brown eyes smiled with a light, and he put down the scroll he'd been studying in favor of studying his long-distance girlfriend.

"So..." he said, "you're standing too... That's good."

"I hope you impress well," Rox said, politely. When she got polite like that, Rue knew it was time for her to clear out. It meant her little obnoxious sister wanted privacy.

Arturo liked both women but he loved being around Rocky. He liked her passion for truth. Rather like she enjoyed his talent for locating that truth.

"Heard any good dirt recently?" Arturo asked. "We don't get much daily updating here."

"Are you kidding? I'm farther away from everything than you!"

They laughed, and Arturo draped his arm over Rocky's shoulders, "let me show you around Lasair... It's a beautiful place you know."

"Hey, Silvermoon's great!"

"Hey, I'm not standing there. And here you are. So. Let me show you around!"

He led a brief tour, which ended, predictably, in his semi-private weyr...

"Arturo, can you be a little more quiet?" Said the boy he was sharing his weyr with. Rocky had left to be with her sister for a while, and then head back to Silvermoon.

"No, I can't. Couldn't you be brave enough to find your own girlfriend?" Arturo grinned. He rested his strong arm over the edge of the cot, enjoying the late of the evening. It was cool now, it had been quite... hot, earlier.

His weyrmate shook his head and rolled his eyes. "And that conquest was one of many you'll be forcing me to endure, isn't it. I swear."

"No, I doubt that it will be... I mean, Rocky is... very special to me." Arturo got a glazed, happy look on his face. Beyond the one which he had had a candlemark or two before...

"You're serious? What if, and don't get me wrong here, I like her and all, but what if she impresses a male dragon? What'cha gonna do then, stud boy?"

"You love to torment me, don't you," Arturo groaned. "If she does, she does. That means we'll probably be able to share a weyr all that sooner."

"We don't get to share a sharded thing until the dragons are weyrlings, a turn from hatching, need I remind you?"

"Veddi, just - shut - up." Arturo said between gritted teeth. He did know she stood a fine chance of being a blue rider. The thought simultaneously occurred to Veddi and Arturo that perhaps she would outrank him if she impressed even a brown, and he only a blue...

Such were the things that this pair of weyrmates spoke of, late into the evening.

But Arturo wasn't truly worried. He adored Rocky. And he knew that she felt about the same toward him. And that, he decided, would be more important than which of them had a 'better' dragon. Arturo walked around the sands, when it was said they were safe to do so. He looked at the eggs, with the others, and thought about this egg hatching brown. That one green. This one here blue. Another, bronze.

They were all so beautiful. He couldn't wait to impress one. He really couldn't wait to get in the air and fly against Thread. It would be magnificent, to have a dragon below him, swooping into the skies, and burning away Pern's enemy.

One egg in particular drew him near, more than once. He gazed at it, closely, while sitting carefully on the hot sands. "You and me," he whispered to the egg, "we're going to fly together. You know? And when Rocky impresses, maybe we'll fight side by side. I know you'll like her. No matter who you are. I know you already."

"And I know you're late for dinner," said one of the weyrling riders from Lasair's last clutch, shooing the candidates off the sands yet again. "So go bond with a herdbeast slice and some bread and cheese."

Arturo stood and smiled as he collected himself. He was rarely taken off guard, and rarer still was he ever perturbed about being interrupted while talking to himself. Or his egg. So the green-haired 17 turn old strolled back down to the dining hall, confident, sure and very pleased with the whole last sevenday.

***

Arturo flung himself into the hatching sands with the other candidates, collecting himself enough to be polite and follow tradition when it came time to greet the weyrleader and woman, and the queen of the clutch.

But it was with a pounding heart that Arturo realized that the egg which he'd been speaking to was shaking the most. It split open and showed off a beautiful blue, wet and dark.

I am hungry. You told me you would do anything for me, I remember! Well find me some food! My name is Kelvereth, and I am hungry. Who is this 'rock' person? I see a pretty girl in your mind, but she is not a rock! That is a rock!

The dragon stumbled into Arturo's arms, over one rock. "Yes, Kelvereth, we can get you something to eat now." He chuckled, "and when Rox sees you she will love you as much as I do."

But I did not impress her. I impressed you!

"You sure did!" T'uro laughed more.

***

Kelvereth dove into the chilled waters of the lake, and came up beside his rider. The swimming exercises they did helped out their weyrling classes. First of course, the strength that the weyrling's wings would have from 'flapping' below the waves, the rider's endurance and ability to hold his breath, and then of course, they got to clean off much more easily...

I like it here. But you keep thinking of a place. I want to see it. It is a colorful place! Not like the stone walls of the weyr, but with plants and people!

"Ah," T'uro said, "you're talking about those old Dawnlight thoughts... Ignore them. I don't need to go back there. I like it here just fine!"

The dragon pondered this. Why do you not like it?

"Because the people there are the problem. They don't understand the freedom that we have to have, as riders. The people there... Aren't really allowed much. That's what Rox and her sister were trying to explain to people. And they kinda got themselves in trouble more than once because of it."

You will be in trouble if you do not scratch my nose!!

***

The big blue Kelvereth swooped around the Weyr one more time before they disappeared between. The wing that they had been assigned to was exciting, but also he wished that it was more a fighting wing than anything else. The Shadow Warrior wing didn't exactly fight Thread. They more sort of fought injustice.

Sort of. They delivered their own kind of justice. Not like the Long Wing of the Law, commonly called the Spy wing, in the Protectorate. No, those were Harpers taking their time with folks who had neglected their tithes, or had abused someone and needed to be publicly punished.

The Shadow Warriors wing did nothing like that. It did all its work in the dark, between, or even while actively trying to hide.

It was a thrill a minute, he'd been promised. Now if only that promise were broken... T'uro wasn't really looking forward to sneaking around.

What he hadn't realized was that the Wing was meeting in a fabulously beautiful island, and they didn't have to work all that much... Now THAT was something both he and Kelvereth liked.