Candidacy [Weyr] [Stats] [Childhood] [Candidacy] [Hatchling] [Weyrling] [Adult] [Ryslen Weyr] Pansiral moaned slightly as he collapsed into his bed, wondering if his muscles had ever been this sore from grooming and exercising the runners.  He doubted it.  'Candidacy means you work harder, partially because the Weyrlingmaster makes you, and partially because you think that the dragonets might like you better for it,' Pansiral thought to himself.  "And it's going to kill me if I don't Impress, 'cause I'm going to have to do this all over again."  Knowing that he said the last scentence aloud, Pansiral also knew that he didn't care.  Today had been horrible. "Why the long face? Naprisla asked as she poked her face into her young fosterling's weyr.  "It couldn't of been that hard, now, could it?" "Let's just say that now that I'm a Candidate, the WeyrHearder made me groom, exercise, and shovel manure twice as much.  I think that I'm about to fall apart.  Seriously."  He sighed deeply, and flipped over to face Naprisla.  "Were you ever a Candidate?" He asked. "Once," She replied softly, and Pansiral suddenly knew why his foster-mother wanted him to stand so badly.  "I stood once, and the dragonets all passed me by.  All but one, a beautiful little green.  And all of a sudden a girl started waving and shouting really loudly, and caused the little green to look over to her.  They made eye-contact."  Naprisla smiled wanely.  "The dragonet would of been mine, it really would of.  If the girl hadn't made eye-contact with the dragonet, she would of been punished horribly, and I would be a greenrider." "I... I'm sorry," Pansiral stuttered.  "I really didn't know." "No," Naprisla replied, "You couldn't of.  You want to know the worst part, though?  The day that the weyrlings went between for the first time, the girl barely made it out.  The green actually had to be called back by the Weyrwoman's gold.  Their first Threadfall, when exchanging firestone bags, the girl let the dragon come out of between a hair too early.  They were in Thread one moment, a bronze's flame the next, and then between." *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* "C'm on, Witchit, we know that you can run faster than that," Pansiral said as he jogged next to the reluctant runner.  Everyone knew that the stallion could of been great, if he'd race.  After four straight first-places, he placed second and stopped trying.  As though second wasn't good enough.  "C'm on!" He yelled again.  Second hadn't been good enough for that girl who had Impressed what should of been Naprisla's green. Eyes rolling slightly with fright at his sudden outburst, Witchit gave off a burst of speed, the kind that had won him so many races.  "That's it!" Pansiral yelled happily, fighting to keep up with the runner.  After a few seconds he slowed the stallion down, smiling broadly. The Weyrhearder smiled twice as broadly as Pansiral led the stallion back to the stables, toying with the idea of offering one of his firelizard eggs to the boy.  Getting Witchit to run would be worth a green egg, indeed...  "Pansiral!" He said.  "Whenever you get done cooling off Witchit, come and see me." As anxious as he was to see what the Weyrherder was speaking about, Pansiral knew well that he couldn't rush the cooling, because it could cause cramps in the stallion's legs.  Whispering softly to reassure Witchit, Pansiral led him to his stall, quickly walking back to the Weyrherder. "What is it, sir?" He asked, using the title that he'd always used for any male member of the Weyr.  "What did you wish to speak to me about?" "Well, since you got Witchit to run whenever many people couldn't, I think that you deserve something."  Despite Pansiral's protests, the man gently lifted a pot full of hot sand with one firelizard egg nestled in it off of the hearth.  "This are from Rohlen Hold.  And don't say no, if Witchit runs on the track, we ought to be able to buy ten more times firelizards than this one." "Yes, sir," Pansiral replied, still in a daze.  He'd just received a firelizard!  *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Later, when the firelizard hatched, many scoffed at the fact that the boy who'd gotten Witchit to run only received a green.  The Weyrherder had earned a gold whenever the stallion took first in a race, but Pansiral didn't mind as much.  After all, beauty is only skin deep, and he thought the same of firelizards. [Weyr] [Stats] [Childhood] [Candidacy] [Hatchling] [Ryslen Weyr]