Taishen, male, aged 22 turns.
Journeyman Starcrafter and Apprentice Glasscrafter

Born in Blackstone Weyr to goldrider Uzume and an unknown Bronze rider.

Very tall, and built to "make the weyrgirls drool". His hair and eyes are dramatic and very odd, particularly his completely yellow eyes -- which don't seem to have pupils unless you look very closely.

He speaks with a quiet but commanding voice, neither very deep nor light. Asked often by Harpers to sing, but he rarely complies, wanting to save his talents for more private moments than Gathers or feasts.

Taishen has already proved his worth to the Starcrafters of the Weyr, but he didn't stop there. At 18 turns old he became a journeyman Starcrafter, but then at 19 he decided he wanted a better knowledge of the tools which the craft used, and became an apprentice Glasscrafter. He has spent a lot of time wandering between Dawnlight Hold, Alabaster Weyrhold, and Blackstone Weyr, picking up information and equipment along the way.

He is intimately trusted by the Blackstones, and should he Impress a bronze he would make an excellent weyrleader. If he impressed anything else he dearly hopes it would be a blue, though he keeps his reasoning to himself. He will elide his name to T'shen.

Originally written around 2000?

Taishen has some interesting abilities that are rather uncommon even among the Blackstone folk. Though he is typical of their rider's offspring in that he is highly empathic toward both people and dragons, he can also seem to speak to the dead or "someone" who is currently apparently Between. How he does this is a mystery, but read on to discover why it will help him in the long run...

"But if she's going to Dawn Sisters that means he'll be alone!" One of the girls pointed out. Another drooped down with her head between her fists, elbows planted firmly on the table.

"But he's too old for us, Cleo, you know that..."

"No one is too old for me," the girl jibed.

"I assure you," Taishen said, slapping his hands flat onto the table and startling the trio almost into hysterics. "I am too old for you." He gave a stunning toothy smile, and walked away into the higher weyrs where his office and living space was.

He brooded for a while after Chuang had been taken to Dawn Sisters Weyr but then he knew something that she didn't. He'd stand, and he'd impress. Perhaps not at Dawn Sisters, or perhaps not with this current clutch there. If she did impress before he did, that would give her a turn or so for her dragon to mature.

He tilted his lips into a sly grin at that thought. Then, he cast his thoughts into a meditative darkness.

Breathing regularly and slowly, Taishen sat in the center of his clean and well-organized weyr floor, on a woven carpet that had an intricate and colorful design on it. Hands folded carefully into a relaxed but secure knit on his lap, and back straight, he meditated for nearly an hour before his work truly began. Allowing his mind to relax into the patterns only he could see...

There is much to learn, the voice said. Much, and you must give yourself time to learn.

"I will," Taishen said, aloud. Though no one was there to hear, he usually conversed with his 'invisible teacher' aloud. Should anyone wander into his weyr, they would discover the tall and beautiful man conversing with an entirely invisible person or power. Perhaps a dragon? Perhaps he thought he had a fire lizard? Or perhaps...

And there will be doubt. Cast it from yourself. Breathe and concentrate. The stars move with time. The planets come and go in their seasons and the Red Star will approach again. How many more generations must endure this?

"So long as I may command fire from a dragon's mouth," Taishen whispered, "no more. No more."

You will seek me when you are between. Do not fear remaining there, you shall see...

With that, Taishen woke from his trance. How long had he been meditating? It was nearly morning. Good. He was refreshed in mind and soul, but his body needed a bath. Perhaps he'd stroll by the weyrbrats again with just a towel. There wasn't anything wrong with taunting the little things. Perhaps someday, they'd be flying greens or golds, and they'd know what it would be like to devote themselves to another idea than pursuing the hopeless dream of being with him.

Fighting thread would always have to come first.

Taishen looked at them with a smile spread across his handsome face. Looking at them made him think of her. How devoted to her tasks, how strong willed she was. How beautiful, and how she smelled in the night, like jasmine or sweet wine.

Soon after he received the packages, he made them ready for transport to Dawn Sisters. Wrapped carefully first in paper -- very heavy paper -- and then in thick soft wherhide, and tied down with a leather strap; Taishen folded the lenses into the padding and then set hem into a package. He examined his work, and then added a snug bow to it all. His eye for the artistic came from his father's line, he guessed. His mother... Well, she obviously appreciated that artistic flair enough to bear him, hadn't she?

On that, he thought about his mother. Her dragon's last clutch had just hatched, and it would probably be her final clucth. Perhaps he ought to pay her a visit, and some respects for her clutch.

With the package to be delivered in his weyr, Taishen strutted off through Blackstone weyr, in search of his mother, the ranking weyrwoman. He found her shortly, in her office of course, doing endless amounts of paperwork. She barely looked up from the mound of wherhides and scrolls to smile briefly at her son.

"Well, the redheaded child does have legs..." She said, while ticking off information on one sheet. "To what do I owe this prodigious occurance?"

Taishen smiled inwardly and chuckled, "I felt it the right thing to do, mother. I have been thinking on you, and on who my father might have been."

At that, the white-maned woman set down her quill and tilted her head up without expression. "Ah," she said. "Come and sit, my son. You are the brightest of stars, do you know that? I have felt strength from you for many turns."

"I have been meditating, as you showed me, mother." He admitted, and she nodded as if this were a significant thing.

"That is good. You have learned things, I think. Say nothing more, Taishen. Your father remained mysterious in many regards, but he was clear that if you were to gain insight to the between-mysteries, that you would be on your strongest path. Good." She seemed quite satisfied. Taishen bowed his head to her.

"Thank you mother. Will I ever know him?"

"I think you already do." She replied, and with that, Taishen smiled.

"Mother, do you know Chuang? The starcrafter?"

"I like her. She has spirit and strength. She is a good sound young woman."

"She is going to stand at the sands at Dawn Sisters Weyr. She is already there. I have her things, and I must bring some new equipment to her. I was wondering, if you could arrange transport... I would like to see her, perhaps see her Impress, if I might be allowed to remain long enough."

Uzume grinned with her typical bright smile. Her face literally beamed happiness. "Ah, you like her! Good! She is good for you! She brings out your humble side. What there is of it." She shooed her son off of the chair's arm, and stood. She came to barely the middle of his chest, this strong son of hers was so tall! He so resembled his father, she thought of him.

"You do not need to worry about transportation, my dearest son. I shall take you. I am only now getting to Dawn Sister's weyr-harper's announcement of their sands! That dragon of mine had kept me so busy with her clutch that I have gotten terribly far behind on my work."

"But then--" Taishen began, "mother, your work should come first!"

"No, my son," She replied, with her face turned like the moon up and pretty, "you come first. Gather what you need, and a riding jacket. You will need it, between is still quite chilled, no matter what your father might have said about it."

She smiled mysteriously and sent Taishen out. Shortly, he returned with his beloved's packages and his own small bag of clothing fit for a number of days stay. Anything more he might need, he could get a ride back somehow. Though he was more than a head and a half taller and certainly you could fit two of Uzume into Taishen's broad frame, he always seemed almost childlike next to his graceful and beautiful mother. She walked into her weyr with him tagging along, like a redhaired comet behind her.

"Kagamith, my sweet, now that your clutch is done, you will be fit to fly again, won't you?" She asked, of the great golden dragon.

Of course I am, my rider. Ah, your red-colored child. He reminds me of his father, doesn't he to you?

The weyrwoman only smiled to her dragon. Then, they took to the air, and found Dawn Sisters weyr only moments away.

Taishen chuckled. Then, when his mother and Kalkin wandered by, he noticed Chuang's odd reaction to the man. Where was her confidence? Certainly he was not that unattractive to her that she was afraid of him?

What he was doing with Uzume's arm draped over his, was a mystery to Taishen, but one which he expected his mother to either tell him about at a later time, or leave it out completely, as was her will.

He comforted Chuang when she admitted that the odd blue rider had effectively creeped her out, and then they rested with their new hatchlings. Finally, they had to part. Taishen bent down to wake his blue Arfeth, while Chuang was able to actually pick up her green Chaybeth to her own weyr.

What is that pretty thing there? Arfeth asked, when they entered the weyrling barracks. It was all Taishen could do to get himself situated in a small nook farther away from the younger boys, so he could afford a narrow meditating area.

It is my space for communicating with the between, Taishen explained. The dragon did not know anything about betweening, yet, but he knew that it was significant to his rider, and therefore significant to himself.

Will I join you there? The blue asked.

"I certainly hope you will, Arfeth, you'll be the one to bring me between and someday soon, you'll know everything I do."

I hope so! You're very smart, T'shen, that is why I picked you. I could have had the other boys, but they were not nearly like you at all. I think I saw you before my eyes could open. Wait! That did not make any sense!

"Yes, it did, my dear Arfeth. But you need to sleep on it first. Then when you're ready, we will meditate together, and we will become one. How does that sound?"

It sounds like a lot of work, T'shen! You're much bigger than me, and I don't think I can fit you into my stomach yet.

T'shen laughed long and loudly at that...

I know you will not. Now, only think of the sky. Not how far away it is, only how it is the same shade as your beautiful skin.

That is for you to know, my friend, but I simply see sky and clouds... And the occasional green falling from them...

T'shen laughed. He shouldn't, but he couldn't help it. Chuang's first flight was slightly less than graceful, and she knew it. T'shen and Arfeth on the other hand...

Wherries! Yum! Can I --

"No you may not chase the wherries!" T'shen yelled, concentration broken, and they too finally ended their first flight with an ungraceful thud on the grasses.

It would be a long walk back to the flight grounds, and a longer explanation as to why they veered off so much from their short flight plan.

"I have no interest in becoming a phantom, father," T'shen said, quietly. His blue sat outside on the ledge, sunning, but he heard.

We are going to be alive first, and then join you later, sir.

The voice chuckled.

Good that you have decided this, Arfeth. And your skills of communication have improved over the last moon.

"Nice of you to notice," T'shen said. Then, he broke his meditation by laughing. "We'll see you between, and then someday perhaps we must join you. But until then, we will be happy. There is a certain greenrider I must see now."

T'shen and Arfeth glided down to where the greens usually roosted, and the bigger blue scattered them like wherries.

None of these are nearly as beautiful as my emerald gem Chaybeth, Arfeth announced.

"She's going to fly soon, can you see it?"

Eventually. I only hope there are no browns in her flights. I am quick and clever, my friend, but I am only a blue...

'Only a blue'?! Did I teach you that, my friend?

Arfeth lowered his head and accepted a scratch on his nose. I am sorry. It is only right for them to try for her, but she loves me. And Chuang loves you. You do go to see her now, do you not?

"I do," T'shen said. "And perhaps we'll be going back to Blackstone soon, so we might settle in a wing."

I will await your return, my friend!