Part 7 (1/2)
Alemi was positive the dolphin was laughing at them.
”These are clothes, Kib, clothes,' Alemi said, holding out the fabric of the light vest he wore with one hand and the st.u.r.dy sailcloth short pants.
”Dolphins not Kib enunciated clearly, ”dresssssss. Then he rolled over and over in the water as if convulsed with mirth.
”Iddie' was what they could say of the Master Fishman's name but the man didn't feel at all insulted.
”I'm honored, you know. I've talked to an animal and it has understood my name, Idarolan said, puffing out his broad chest a bit in pride. Then more confidentially, ”Never would I tell of this morning to Ya.n.u.s of Half Circle Sea Hold! Never! But I shall enlist the a.s.sistance of those Masters I know would appreciate the connection.” He was nearly b.u.t.ted off his feet by an impetuous prod of a rostrum. ”Excuse me, where was I?”
”Ski-ritch Temp,' he was told in a very firm request. ”Ski-ritch Temp.
Idarolan complied.
”This's one thing I never thought I'd find myself doing, - he remarked in an undertone to Alemi.
”Nor me!'
Chapter Five.
lemi was not the only one wanting to have a closer understanding of the dolphins.
After T'lion and Gadareth returned Alemi to his Sea Hold, and collected the clothes which T'lion had hastily borrowed from a sleepy brown rider, the boy and the bronze did not immediately return to the Eastern Weyr.
”They're not as good as you, Gaddie,' T'lion told his dragon as the bronze leaped skyward. ”But don't you think talking sea animals are great?”
Would they talk to me, too?
”Ah, Gaddie, don't for a moment think I'd trade you for a dolphin,' and T'lion laughed at the very notion, scratching the bronze neck as hard as he could with gloved fingers. He had yet to grow into all his flying gear and the glove fingers were a joint too long so scratching was difficult. ”You and me are different You are my rider and i am your dragon and that is a good difference, said Gadareth stoutly. i chose you of all who were there the day I hatched - ”And I wasn't even supposed to be a candidate,' T'lion said, grinning. vividly remembering that most exciting of all days in his life.
His brother, Kanadin, had been the official candidate and, even though he had impressed a brown, Kanadin had never quite forgiven his younger brother for making such a show of himself and impressing when he hadn't even been presented as a possible rider. Impressing a bronze was an even more unforgivable injury.
”You're too young!” K'din had yelled at his brother when the weyrlings were led to their quarters. ”You were only brought along because Ma and Pa didn't dare leave you home. How could you do this to me?”
It had never done any good for T'lion to tell K'din that he hadn't meant to impress a dragon, much less a bronze but K'din saw it as a personal offence. Not that he would have swapped Gadareth for his Bulith even ten minutes after the Impression was made. It was the fact that what should have been a momentous day for the eldest son of a journeyman resident at Landing had been trivialized by a much younger brother who had been barely the acceptable age at the time of his Impression.
T'lion had tried to explain that perhaps if this had been a Weyr like the northern ones, an interior cavern with tiers of seats set up high for the witnesses, instead of an open s.p.a.ce around the Hatching Ground, Gadareth wouldn't have found it so easy to reach him. But the little bronze had flopped and crawled, keening with anguish, from the Hatching sands and right up to himself where he had stood with his parents and sister. It wasn't as if Tarlion had tried, in any way, to attract the hatchling's attention. He hadn't so much as moved a muscle. Of course, he had been so flabbergasted to find a little dragon b.u.t.ting him, that he had had to be urged by T'gellan, the Weyrleader, and the Weyrling master to accept the lmpression. Not that he could have resisted much longer, not with Gadareth so upset that he wasn't immediately accepted by his choice of partner.
Even three years on, at fifteen, T'lion stayed out of K'din's way as much as possible. Which was easier now that K'din was with a fighting wing and could sneer that T'lion had Turns yet before he, as a bronze rider, would be useful to the Weyr which housed and nurtured him.
T'lion was very grateful to T'gellan, the Weyrleader, and his weyrmate, Mirrim, green Path's rider, because they never once made the youngster feel unacceptable.
”The dragon chooses,' T'gellan had said at the time, and often at other Impressions, shaking his head ruefully at dragon choice.
Then he'd congratulated the stunned family on having two such worthy sons.
Since T'lion could not be included in a fighting Weyr until he was sixteen, T'gellan used the bronze pair as messengers; giving them plenty of practice in finding coordinates all over what was settled of the Southern Continent as well as the major and minor Holds and Halls in the North. T'lion took pride in being a conscientious messenger and was infallibly courteous to his pa.s.sengers, never once mentioning the behavior of some of them who found going between frightening or unnerving.
Or those who tried to order him about as if he was a drudge.
No dragon ever chose a drudge personality. Of course, being so young made some adults feel as if they had to patronize him him! A dragonrider!
There are some of the fins, Gadareth said, adroitly interrupting his less than amiable thoughts. And, knowing his wish before T'lion could even think it, the bronze glided down toward the pod.
Being up high gave T'lion a superb view of the pod, leaping and plunging, of their sinuous bodies under the water. It was sort of like the formation of fighting wings going against Thread, T'lion thought. Only he'd heard that s.h.i.+pfish - no, dolphins - liked Thread. They'd been seen by dragonriders, swarming with other types of marine life, actually following the leading edge of Thread across the ocean.
”Less for us to flame, boy,' V'line had remarked.
However, being airborne made it a little difficult for T'lion to speak to dolphins even though Gadareth was agreeable to flying just above the surface, being careful not to plunge a wing into the water and off-balance himself.
Then a dolphin heaved itself up out of the water, momentarily on a level with dragon and rider, eyeing them as it reached the top of its jump before sliding gracefully back into the water.
The surprise was enough to make Gadareth veer, catching his wing tip in the water. He struggled to recover his balance, tipping T'lion dangerously against his riding straps.
”Squeeeeeeh! Squeeeh! Carrrrrrrerfullllll !”
There was no doubting the shout from several dolphins as Gadareth righted himself and kept a reasonable distance above the waves. Then two more dolphins launched themselves up, each eyeing dragon and rider.
Recovering from the fright, T'lion responded to their scrutiny with an enthusiastic wave, trying to keep his eye on them as they curved up and down. Then Gadareth caught the rhythm of the dolphins' maneuver and, dipping down as he saw a dolphin nose appear, arched up and over with the acrobat.
This is flin! the dragon said, his eyes whirling with green and blue.
”Funnnhn! Funnnhnn! Gaym! Pullay gaym!” cried dolphin voices as they leaped up and over.
Did they hear me? Gadareth asked his astonished rider.
Getting any dolphin to answer that question was beyond the physical constraints of their present maneuvering, though T'lion shouted as loud as he could at each dolphin arching past him.
”I'll have to ask Master Alemi, Gaddie,' T'lion told his dragon.
”Maybe he'll know. He said Aivas told him a lot about dolphins.
That's what they really are, not s.h.i.+pfish, you know.”
i know now. Dolphins, not s.h.i.+pfishes. And they' can talk.
”I think we'd better go back to the Weyr,' T'lion said, checking the slant of the westering sun. ”And, Gaddie, let's keep this adventure to ourselves, shall we'?”
it's fun to know something other people don't, the bronze replied as he had had occasion to do several times when he and his rider had spent some private time investigating on their own.
There was so much to explore! Of course, if T'lion had not been conscientious about his duties, Gadareth would not have been so willing to take free time, but T'lion was very good about doing fun things only when he had finished his a.s.signed ch.o.r.es.
Sounds were sent that the dragons which mans had made still liked dolphins. Dolphins had seen dragons in the skies since mans went to the New Place North. Dolphins had sung to dragons but had not been answered. Dragons talked to their riders in a fas.h.i.+on that dolphins did not quite understand. They felt the speech and saw the resuks - the dragon doing what the rider asked. Dragons provided many new games. They liked having their undersides ski-ritched and mans were always inspecting them so they did not have any more blufiss. They did not mind being jumped and providing sport for dolphins. They had very big and colored eyes, not like dolphins. Dolphins had jumped to see. Dragon had been pleased to see them play.
So T'lion and Gadareth reported back in Eastern Weyr to the Weyrling Master, H'mar, bronze Janeruth's rider. T'lion was sent off to help in the kitchen which he never minded because it gave him a chance to see what dinner would be and he always managed to sneak a few bites. His brother might twit him about having to do drudge ch.o.r.es because he wasn't big enough or old enough for anything else. T'lion invariably gave K'din the reaction his brother expected and never admitted that he liked doing the tasks set him. The best part was that he never knew from one day to the next what he'd be doing.
Before appearing at the main Weyr Hall, T'lion saw Gadareth comfortable in his own sandy wallow, a clearing in the thick jungle that T'lion had himself prepared for his dragon when they were considered old enough to leave the weyrling barracks. He lived in a single roomed accommodation that looked out on to the clearing. He even had a covered porch so, on the hottest nights, he slept out on the hammock slung between wall and porch support. Having lived, up until his Impression, in a hold too small for all the brothers and sisters he shared it with, T'lion treasured his privacy. He felt very lucky indeed because he could just remember the cold winters and the harsh winds of his birthhold in Benden Hold. Living south was much better. Living in this Weyr was even better than living in, say, Benden Weyr, because there riders had to live in cold caves high up on the Weyrside which was nowhere near as convenient as living right in the forest, with fruit to be picked from branches whenever you wanted it.