Ailsmar "Ailsmar, don't tell me that you've broken another pot," Relmas groaned at her fosterling, wondering why she had to get, of all the students doing beautifully, the one that was interested in painting.  As if anyone in this CraftHall, other than the MasterPotter, had enough money to pay for parchment, ink, and other things.  It just wasn't logical, and it was terrible that the boy wanted to do this; indeed, it might of been a relief for many of the people here.  He managed to mess up anything and everything. "Yes," Ailsmar replied looking down at the floor and shuffling his feet slightly.  He hated being the one that was always clumsy, the one with the "lady's hand," and the one that was smart, but couldn't mold a pot if it would save his life.  He wanted to paint.  That was just it, paint.  Whenever he held the brush in his hand, Ailsmar could feel something, almost like it was calling him in some way.  Many teased him for that, but Ailsmar had not ever gotten used to it. "Oh, all right, then, bring the pieces to be and I'll dispose of them without the MasterPotter knowing," Relmas sighed, for although she might of been used to the beggings of her other fosterlings, Ailsmar was always easy to forgive and help out.  How could you not want to help him?  He was clumsy and never good at anything. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* "Ailsmar!" Rowela bellowed at her foster brother, staring in horror at the smashed pot ont he ground.  "That was my best one!"  She knelt by the pieces, picking them up softly, and biting back tears, knowing that a girl of seventeen Turns shouldn't cry over that. "I... I'm really, really sorry," He said, angry at himself for being so clumsy when he should of been more graceful and more caring about Rowela's things.  "I never do anything right, do I?" "No, Ailsmar, you do some things right...  It's just that, well, you never notice the things that you do right, and just the ones that you do wrong," Rowela said, trying to maintain her temper, as so not to upset her foster-brother even more. "I'll make it up to you, I promise," Ailsmar replied confidantly, picking up the small bag which contained a small set of dishes that Rowela had been working on, and walking out silently with them. For the next three Candlemarks, Ailsmar painted a scene of a tiny blue dragon stumbling from an egg Rowela's dishes and cups, each time making sure that the pose was exactly the same.  Long after his brother had returned and gone to sleep, Ailsmar stayed awake, painting until his vision was so blurry that he couldn't even see the cup, let alone the painting. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* "What did you do with them, Ailsmar?" Rowela demanded angrily, standing above her half-awake brother as he stretched and yawned.  "What did you do with my things?" "I... made it up to you," He yawned, pointing to the set of perfectly-painted cups, plates, and bowls that rested on his bedside table, then quickly stood up and dressed, leaving Rowela to stare at the cups one by one.  That is, of course, until the cry of "DRAGONS!" caused her to bolt dowstairs. "Searchdragons, Paitor!" Ailsmar exclaimed to his foster-brother, four years older than he.  "Searchdragons!  One from Rose Circle!" Paitor looked up unbelieving for a moment, then bolted off after his younger brother, running like crazy and not looking where he was going. The three foster-siblings clustered around one of the lower windows, looking out at the blue dragon settling down onto the paved yard.  The rider dismounted, and laughed as he saw the eager faces in the window that disappeared the moment that he looked up. "Shards, I wish that I could hear what he was saying," Paitor cursed softly.  "But I guess that I'll have to live with not being able to.  Hey- if the rider is from Rose Circle, that's a while away, right?" He asked. "Yeah," Ailsmar said, suddenly understanding where his brother was going.  "They're going to want to eat!" The three dashed off to the kitchens as quickly as they could, each laughing at the strangeness of the situation. A few days later.... Ailsmar smiled as his feet touched down on Rose Circle's Weyrbowl.  Flying on Merimath had been great, but he was definately ready to get settled in his weyr now. Return to Ailsmar's Weyr