Mentoring...kinda (A'drazo)

[thedreamerlady]

It seemed like they'd only just sat down when they were standing up again to go back to the dragons. Adreazioh decided that particular step was pointless, and vowed not to do it the next time. He'd just splash in the water with Austranth, since that was more fun anyway. Though it was very odd to have such quantities of water. The little brownrider figured it would all dry up come summer time, and everything would be just like the Caves.

His mind stopped musing, and turned to watching, and then he carefully copied all of Ph'yn's motions. Only he tried very hard not to get the oil on him, and all on Austranth instead. The feeling of oil on his skin was slightly sickening, and when the oil seeped up out of the cloth, and onto his hands, Adreazioh's face turned to an expression of utter revulsion.

From Austranth's creamy blue-green eyes, it was obvious they felt very different about oil.

Ganymeth, please send my regards to Yours. He's helped Mine very much, and it's so very nice of him.

[hrsegrl]

Ganymeth too was enjoying the effects of the oil. While Ph'yn was well versed in Weyr life, he had never been anywhere else. That was something A'srazo had over him. When they were done, he might invite the boy to come with him for dinner. He felt rather isolated in his class because he rode a Bronze. People looked up to Bronzeriders. In his class, there was only one other Bronze dragon and that meant there were twenty seven people looking up to two.

It was hard to befriend people who looked up to you. With A'drazo he hadn't really had a choice. The boy needed help, as did his dragon. In any case, he had spent more time with A'drazo than anyone else in their class. "When Ganymeth is finished being oiled, I generally take him to feed. Then I go and eat myself while he sleeps."

Thank you, Austranth. Mine is glad to have company. The Bronze sent the message from his brown companion to his rider. Ph'yn, who had never really thought himself to be a patient sort, was finidng it really easy to work with A'drazo despite his obvious language barrier.

[thedreamerlady]

"Okay." Adreazioh said with a smile. He'd heard the word food there, and that was all that mattered. He could share a little of Austranth's food, and then go to the big hall, and eat, eat, eat.

Yum! Food time! He sent to his brown, who returned the feeling of hunger/joy that was associated with eating tasty food. They had grown to the point that Austranth was eating slaughtered Herdbeasts, and Adreazioh was only required a few times to remove a few parts that Austranth still couldn't digest. He could remove them quickly, but generally stayed with his brown till he was done, and them moved off to the big hall. It wasn't as though he had any friends to eat with.

He started moving back towards the the big room of dead animals, then paused, deciding to wait for Ph'yn, so that the tall, tall, dark man could talk. Adreazioh liked listening to the syllables, and twisty words that the other Weyrling used.

[hrsegrl]

Ganymeth took a little longer to oil than Austranth, mainly due to his being larger. Ph'yn didn't take long to gather up the supplies and place them in the bucket before following an overzealous weyrling and his obviously hungry dragon. I hunger too. Of course you do. You are growing and you are always hungry!I am also hungry because I am growing. Ph'yn rolled his eyes, smart alec dragon! How he ever got stuck with such an arrogant pain in the you know what...

The Bronze walked hastily toward the meat locker, making it hard for Ph'yn to keep up. The tall youth, did eventually catch up to A'drazo, Austranth and Ganymeth. Someone had to lug around that bucket after all. Someone would have been slow without the bucket too.Some of us also don't spend half the day sleeping.

"Alright now, the important thing when feeding a dragon is not to let them eat too much." He walked into the meat locker and chose a couple slabs of herbeast to start with. "Ready Ganymeth?" Yeah. Ph'yn tossed the meat with as much strenght as he could muster and Ganymeth caught it in his mouth and swallowed. He liked that trick.

[thedreamerlady]

Adreazioh peered at Ph'yn. He just tossed the meat? Without examining it first? Adreazioh picked through the meat, looking for the choicest slabs. Most didn't meet his expectations. While he was fine with eating any of the meat stored in the locker, little of it was good enough for his Austranth, who was going to be big, and therefor needed the best food.

Finally selecting two slabs that were good enough for his brown, Adreazioh hauled both over to Austranth. Helping slice up the first hunk of meat, Adreazioh took a bite before offering it to his brown. Still chewing on his first piece, he worked quickly with a little knife hidden artfully in his clothes to make the other pieces a better size for Austranth. After all, if Austranth had to bite them off himself, he'd get blood everywhere.

And Adreazioh wouldn't be able to steal bites.

[hrsegrl]

Ph'yn threw the second slab almost immediately after the first and went back in for a couple more. He was a Bronze after all. When he came back out he saw A'drazo eating the raw meat and winced. Ewww. Who would do that? "A'drazo... why are you eating the dragon's meat?? We will have cooked food soon. I thought the Healers had determined that raw meat was not good for humans..."

One wasn't always right on such things. Even if he was wrong, the boy needed to stop on the basis that it was disgusting to see. He wasn't going to have many friends at all with bloody meat going into his mouth. Not to mention kissing. Who would want to kiss a boy who ate raw meat that was for the weyrling dragons?

Ph'yn shook his head. The world must have been harder on A'drazo than he thought. The Bronzer couldn't imagine not having enough food to eat or not having a safe place to sleep. He hadn't seen nor could he understand the life that A'drazo must have led up to coming to the Weyr.

[thedreamerlady]

Adreazioh peered at the other man with deep confusion. But the meat tasted good! And he could make sure he wasn't giving Austranth bad meat. Besides, once the cooks got it, they put weird spices on it, and burnt it, and it didn't have the tang that fresh blood gave the meat.

Again, he was confused by these non-Cave people. In the Caves, you rarely cooked your food, especially meat. It had a strong smell, and attracted people who would steal food from you. If you were in a big, strong group, you might risk it, but not often.

This Ph'yn, for all his size, wouldn't last a day in the Caves. Adreazioh decided, and he informed Austranth of it.

Don't judge him. Austranth said smoothly, taking his place as A'drazo's advisor. He'll never need to be in the Caves. Now, wipe your mouth, and talk to him, carefully. Meat tastes good this way, but maybe we'll need to keep it away from other people.

It was Adreazioh's first real experience with a secret, and he stared at his Brown oddly, before wiping his mouth with his hand, and going to stand next too Ph'yn. Thankfully, all the meat Austranth was eating was cut, and the mid sized dragon didn't get blood all over himself.

"Taste goo'." Adreazioh muttered, and then paused, wondering what they would do next.

[hrsegrl]

"The Healers, they say it will give you a stomach ache if you eat it." Ph'yn remarked but made no move to take the raw meat from the boy. That would not go well. If he wanted to eat raw meat that was his perogative. Ph'yn highly doubted the boy understood what he had just said anyway!

The Bronzeriding Weyrling saw that his own dragon was done eating and looked to A'drazo to see if he was done. It appeared that way, so Ph'yn decided to mention real food again, seeing as that brightened up the other Weyrling considerably.

"Lets bring these two back to the Barracks for a nap and you and I can go to the Weyrhall for real food. Hope you are still hungry. " He was of course joking around with that last statement. Ph'yn couldn't help that he had a sense of humor. Well if the boy didn't understand then he wouldn't be offended , though if he did and didn't get the humor, he might be. Great job, Ph'yn! Way to ruin your first weyrling friendship.

He walked with Ganymeth back toward the barracks hoping that A'drazo had picked some good tips up about bathing. Already Austranth's hide looked better. It would be horrible if his hide was ruined so that he couldn't fly thread. That was a thought for another day though. For now, he was hungry and his Bronze was sleepy.


The End