Junior Officer Tien Nguyen (t'yen when), member of the fire department for 5 years, 3 at TCFS 108. This short-statured powerhouse of a man seems to be everywhere at once. He is very quick on his feet, and is probably going to be awarded a command spot sooner or later, for his ability to organize and notice where everyone is. His typical duties include driving the huge rig, something he enjoys a lot.

At 30 years old, Tien entered the force after 4 years in the Marines - stationed largely at the Miramar MCAS in San Diego. His training has made him into an orderly man, and while he takes instruction well he is best at barking them out. He is typical of a Vietnamese looking man, with medium tan skin, short cropped thick black hair, and pale brown eyes. He considers himself to be more handsome than he's getting credit for at the station. Because he's short - at only around 5'4" tall - he tends to overcompensate.

With Tien's family living in San Diego, he occasionally takes the train south and enjoys a rare weekend retreat to visit. His mother and father are fairly old, and he is the youngest of four children. He has one sister and she is the eldest of the siblings. Tien is looking - aggressively so - for a girlfriend. His luck with women is sadly less than he'd like it to be.

This little brown flitter is named Sarge, as he barks orders for more and more food! His egg was found at Falas Weyr, and Tien is hoping that the little guy will bring him luck with women. Maybe his dragon would do that, but he doesn't have one yet!

Though the wait wasn't all that long, Tien had to busy himself with many activities before the hatchings were announced. He helped out hunting, keeping records, and even organizing a birthday event or two.

But his favorite times were when the dragon-students, around two dozen of them plus a few here and there, would be led through the sands. Since the FGPC was running these clutches, there were scientists who got to play with the genes (which made him a little wary, didn't things go wrong when mad science was allowed to play god?) and a couple eggs - or maybe all of them - would be unique.

There were apparently two clutches on the sands, both fairly small he thought, and small eggs. A busy set of female dragons moved the orbs around, but...

There was one or two eggs which Tien thought he recognized. Ones which caught his eye more than once each time they were to look at them. Maybe it was one from each clutch, maybe two from one. He didn't know.

The buzz was that the first of the clutches were about to hatch, and it turned out that in fact there were three clutches of eggs - two green type females had laid theirs, and left, while one more exotic had laid the larger of the batches. When everyone got there, the dragons were alternately talking (they were Alskyran, and Tien wondered what would happen if he paired a dragon that could speak words?) and humming for the hatchlings.

Sarge on Tien Nguyen's shoulder kept silent, except to join in the cheering when a dragonet hatched. Yet, none of the dragons emerging from their shells at this first hatching came to Tien. They were actually a lot more flashy than he expected. Something that reminded him of nothing more than his sisters' porcelain doll collection or something.

All along though, Tien got this nagging sensation. But it was not toward any of the eggs breaking open. Those beyond, nestled behind where the two fostered clutches were covered by fine sand...

***

It was hardly a week later, if that, when the pair of green's clutches were ready to hatch and everyone left over was called yet again to the hatching sands!

"Who are they?" asked Tien, muttering to himself about the angry and overprotective looking green-and-blue, and green... "Ah." Both females, and the dams of these clutches. Their 'work' elsewhere was over, apparently. How nice of them to show up for the hatching...

A trio of small eggs broke open, and it was easy to see which mother they would have been from. Since one had but one shade, and the others two - and here were a single-colored green, and her two-toned friend...

Then, when a brown hatched, Tien could hear some breathe out in disappointment, but it was nothing like that for him. Because that was from one of those eggs that had taken his attention during classes! And there seemed nothing typical about this brown. Not big, like he'd seen some others. But this one was special.

I choose Tien Nguyen! The brown bespoke him, rushing up and sitting down before his feet.

"Do you now, Taisemth?" Tien said, with a blink to clear the wetness from his eyes.

I do, Taisemth thought back happily, and blinked just like Tien had - only just to be cute. Tien noticed that this was no ordinary brown, when the dragonet stood up and raised his wings. On his body were dark almost burnished, burnt looking markings. Fiery ash, that was unique. It didn't even matter to Tien. This was Taisemth. His dragon!

"Well then let's get you fed. There isn't any reason to stay hungry now, is there?"

Sarge vocally agreed - maybe he'd get some scraps if the dragonling was being fed!

"I'm okay, really," Tien said, brushing off his shoulders and taking the helmet off his head. "Ow."

You are in pain my rider, and it is my fault! I am so sorry!

The dragon had accidentally rolled over on Tien, quickly avoiding another dragon who was landing and injured already. Thread was falling, and everyone was needed. But Tien and Taisemth couldn't fly yet - and wouldn't be now with the thread in the air.

"It's okay, it's my shoulder is all..." he said, and with his good arm lifted another sack of firestone to the transport riders. He watched them fly off into the dusky sky, and a mix of envy and sick fear came through him when yet another injured dragon and threadscored rider came back home.

"I'm glad that this stuff doesn't fall where I come from," Tien said, "I won't miss it."

But we will still be fighting for lives and safety! His dragon bugled and rushed forward with a bucket in his mouth to help douse a woman and her green who still had steaming bits of thread trying to eat its way through. Killing the thread and chilling the pair, they looked grateful.

***

So this is 'home', bespoke Taisemth, I like it. It is big! It smells a bit funny though...

"Yeah that'd be the smog," Tien laughed. They had teleported from Falas to the Healing Den's sheltered area where the Station's dragons would probably reside until they could find a good place to house them in Talon, and then from there to the city itself. Like the others, Tien Nguyen had been gone for more than a year his own time, but only days according to their calendar here. Though the teleporting was harder physically, it was actually fairly easy for him to recall the exact time and place where he'd come from. Looking at it from the rooftop now, Tien knew that his life would never be the same.

Fighting fires from the back of a dragon! His heart beat more quickly. Sarge gave off a trill, and Taisemth bellowed. Though not huge by any standard, he was at least the size of a typical pernese brown, which meant he was bigger than half the others already there.

He didn't have aspirations for Steele's position just yet, which was fine since that man's huge dragon - and a couple others around - were almost twice the size of the burnt-brown colored Falasian.

But don't you think that I could help you get some girls? Taisemth bespoke with a grumbling draconic laugh.

"I think you will get me that," Tien laughed back, "and when Steele retires then I'll make sure you're up to the duties. Watch him, Tai," Tien said sternly and seriously. "Watch him because he's the best. He's a really good guy. I'm proud to take orders from him."

It looks like he is ordering everyone to line up on the ground!

"Then that's where we should be!"