Seth's weyr (Saleth - ugh) originally written around 2000

"You know your name is kind of..."

"I know... It ends in a th... I can't help it. I think my parents wanted to name me for someone's dragon. Some uncle or grandparent. I don't know." He shrugs, and licks his lips.

You look over the candidate and decide that he does belong on a dragon. He looks absolutely sure of himself, confident and collected. But unusual too, from the top of his head. He's got fair skin, but his hair which is long and fluffy around his shoulders and face, has stripes in it! Actual stripes, like the way a cat's fur is ticked with colors. His hair is black and deep rusty orange, while his eyes are a tannish-grey shade. His eyebrows turn up in the middle, making him always look a little worried.

"Are you done staring at my hair?" He asks, and you let out a chuckle to hide your embarrassment.

"I suppose I am. Um," you tap your stylus against the wherhide book, "I do have some questions."

"Certainly. I'm the son of Elesan and Annes, both of them were harpers. I'm handfasted to Gloria," he tosses his head and a golden-haired young woman appears in a doorway, a baby near her shoulder in a sling.

Surprised, you glance back at Saleth. "Handfasting and dragonriding rarely mix," you say.

"He's already explained that," the woman says, smiling. "But I am not worried. So long as he comes back to me in the eve, I don't really mind where he must roam. In one piece, of course..." She reminds him, and he grins at her. They seem very much in love.

"Anyway, I am 22 turns old, and I'm a Journeyman Harper. Though... I'm certain that I won't continue my training if I do stand on the sands. If I impress, I will have to devote myself to that. But I'm still a Harper now. A currier."

"He's very literate," Gloria says, passing by and patting him on the head. He rolls his eyes.

"I've come across evidence that our Lord Holders have stolen lands from some of the locals, you might want to discuss that with T'rask and W'kon if you see them. I stand a good chance of getting thrown out of Dawnlight for good, if I bring it up myself..." Saleth leans back and his eyes get narrow. He thinks to himself, but doesn't share his thoughts.

"What sort of dragon would you rather impress?" You ask, completing another line on the record.

"A blue, probably. They often make good swift fliers, and they're agile. I don't think I want bronze or even brown. They must do too many things like ... mating flights with higher ranking dragons. I'd rather be back where I can watch and learn."

You jot this down.

He adds, "I'm going to keep my name intact, you know..." He smirks. If a dragon doesn't like it then obviously I'll do what they like. But if it is up to me, I'm going with S'eth. Perhaps I'll have a dragon with my name." He grins broadly and his wife giggles beyond, mixed with their child's laughter.

"So how about this little one?" You ask, and Gloria moves to show you her daughter.

"Her name is Ataura," she says. Her hair is golden like her mother's, with her father's lines of black through it. Very pretty. You compliment them and then head off to the next weyr.

"That harper was back again," Gloria told Saleth.

"What did he want?"

"He was asking about where you were searched, and by whom."

Saleth snuggled his arms around his beautiful wife, and muttered, "well did you tell him?"

Grinning and chuckling, Gloria said, "I did. I told him how you were dangling off a ledge with your stylus in your fingers and the spare hand not letting the wherhide you were making notes on drop because you wanted to keep the paper forever now..."

Jolting back, Saleth looked at Gloria. "You did not tell him that!"

"I did! And," she grinned, "I told him how it wasn't a Protectorate dragon who came to your rescue, it was blue Henaveth and his searchrider K'allin. You didn't lose one page of that note you'd been writing, either." Gloria nodded and seemed to add a 'that's the end of that story' to her statement with it.

"But... That wasn't how it happened at all!" Saleth whined, "it wasn't... Gloria!" She was just laughing, and laughing...

'"It was so not like that." Saleth groaned. "Now what's he going to tell the weyrwoman? That I'm some kind of total klutz? It did NOT happen like that!"

"Then what did you want me to tell him, love?" Gloria purred.

"It went like this:

"It was nearly evening, and I had been walking along a trail near Dawnlight's forest. It was a nice safe trail and I knew the area well. I had been coming from a cothold where I was teaching the young ones how to remember their ballads, and some lettering. It had been a good day, and the cotholder even gave me a wherry sandwich to get me where I was going.

"Then as I walked along I thought up a new stanza in a song I was working on, so I dug out the wherhide. I *am* perfectly able to walk and scribe at the same time, you know." Saleth stuck his tongue out and Gloria waved her fingers for him to continue.  "Well, it was growing dark so I had to either concentrate on writing or walking, and I chose writing, because I knew the territory. I did! Something distracted me, I think it was the dragon. I had wandered a ways, and worked on the song, and then when I looked up next, it was almost dark. The stars had let me work well, but it was time to put that wherhide away. So I did."

"And then what?"

"Then, I walked to the edge of the tall gulley to the south-east of the Hold, and I watched the sunset come to a close. It was while I was doing that, that the dragon arrived. He'd been circling around --"

"This would be Henaveth, right?"

"... Yes, it would be. Now, shush and let me tell the story RIGHT. He had circled and then I waved him over. The dragons can see well in that light, so they came by. K'allin offered to have the dragon take me back to the Hold, since it was dark, so I agreed! There wasn't a good place for him to land, so I had the choice of getting picked up by him or leaping across the gully onto his back. I *chose* to have him pick me up, since I didn't want to lose my new song, or my lunch!"

Gloria nodded, as a grin spread across her face. "Ah. So. I see. That was how it *really* happened."

"YES!" Saleth cried out. "It was!"

"And I suppose it's just too bad that dragons don't have a very long memory, that they would be able to tell anyone how it really happened. Right? So that K'allin wouldn't be able to prove it for you, now, ... would he?"

"Don't get any ideas about asking," Saleth said.

"Isn't she the best, most beautiful girl in the world?" S'eth beamed.

"Are you talking about your daughters, or your dragon?" Asked Shard.

"All of them. And don't be forgetting Gloria!" They laughed. The toddler Atuara clung on to Irhath's neck ridge and giggled, the green dragon obviously enjoying the attention.

"She'll be a good rider too, S'eth," Shard said. The stripe-haired man nodded, almost solemnly.

"I'd rather that she become a harper, but... I believe you. And I sense something too in this little one."

"It's not hard to see that you're good stock for dragonriding blood, S'eth. Don't knock it. You're all going to be more than welcome in the Protectorate once she's fully grown."

S'eth smiled again. He would be allowed to fly for the purpose of locating information, records keeping. It relieved his wife Gloria more than him. But it would probably keep him away from actual Threadfall.

But I want to fight it some day, bespoke Irhath. She set herself down with her belly to the stone floor, and Atuara was taken off by her mother. Her nine month old sister Jan gurgled with glee when it was her turn to sit, but she did less gripping and more chewing.

"Perhaps you shall. But only as an emergency fighter, you know. We're too valuable as we are!" S'eth convinced the green. Then, it was everyone's turn to help feed the dragon. Shard was pleased that the whole family would be involved, and also more than glad that they wouldn't be losing their precious father to Threadfall.