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Talbent / B'en

Bronze Brith

He was sure there had to be a mistake. All these dragons.... All these dragons flapping and bellowing and singing... Talbent was terrified like he'd never been before. At Dragonhope, the most he'd been around was one, perhaps two dragons at a time. He had ridden on the lanky brown out here to be delivered to the hatching, and a blue had taken him from his home before that.

He had watched, with his heart in his throat, dragons in the sky over the cliffs at Dragonhope. The huge bronze that the Weyrleader rode, and the bright wings as they took off toward Threadfall.

"I'm a harper, not a rider," Talbent muttered. One of the girls, Balshi, tsked her tongue at him before the hatching, and grabbed his cold, sweaty hand.

"You're going to be both," she told him. "We're all going to be something new. Give it a try."

All those eggs. All those little... squirming, wet, almost blind dragons in their eggs. He couldn't even count them, there were too many. He wanted to go back to the dorm, to play his flute and to assure himself that this was all a nasty dream. A very long, very complicated and extremely real dream.

I am not a dream, am I? Said a voice, clearly in his mind. That solved it, Talbent thought. I've gone insane and am now hearing voices.

You are not insane. If you were insane I would hardly have chosen you as my rider.

That snapped Talbent out of his ... his what, worry? Prayer? His fists were clenched, along with his teeth and his eyes shut so hard against the reality of the situation. He was standing, wearing traditional white robes, in a huge hatching cavern with hot sand below and noise everywhere... Trying desperately to blot out the dragons. If the cavern wasn't filled with them, perhaps...

I could fill this cavern, with my own eggs some day. Perhaps when we're older, we'll fly a queen and be weyrleaders. I think you would make a good weyrleader.

"I am not seeing this! I am not hearing this!" Talbent hissed, barely over the rush of blood in his ears. He heard a giggle, that was Challie's voice. He heard another, a chuckle from Del and what sounded like a decisive 'ahem' from Balshi. Something they thought was pretty funny going on. Well, nothing was funny here. Everything was terrifying here.

The great claws, the wings that swept over the sky... The day that his father died, was the day that the dragons had come. He was tiny, Talbent was only an infant when this happened but the shape of dragons and the scent of his father's sickly body stayed with him all this time. Two decades... Every time a dragon was seen in the sky over the craft hall, the smell of death filled Talbent's mind. He couldn't get the two apart. They made him ill.

I promise, I smell better than that. Well, I might smell a bit of egg, and that might put you off.... but I smell meat, I'm hungry B'en, I'm hungry and you are my rider, and I would like to eat.

At last, now named by ... his... dragon, Talbent opened his eyes. There before him was a tall, slender limbed hatchling, that towered over many others. A pale sunrise bronze, matched only by some of the finer pounded metals that he'd seen... B'en. Well... That wasn't such a bad name, was it? He could be B'ent, or T'al, or T'bent, or ....

But B'en is your name now. Because I like it. I like your friends too. Even though that pretty one says she wants to stay 'single' she likes you.

Which pretty one was that? He suddenly looked around, and seeing three or four of his pretty friends, wasn't sure what to make of it. ".... His name is Brith," B'en announced weakly. "I'm... a bronze rider."

Butterflies flocked up from his stomach, and ... when he opened his mouth (thinking halfway that he might vomit from all the excitement) B'en's laughter filled the sands.

***

B'en had been among the ranks at Dragonhope for five turns after his sleek dragon had grown enough to leave Dasmalenra. He was in the Weyrling Training wing, assisting with the records and keeping up with his harper-duties even though he knew the Weyrleaders disliked real Harpers...

It was because he was so embedded in the records side of things that he quickly heard about the flights at New Dark Moon. And, that they'd agreed to send the girl who rode the bronze, Benta, off for a gold's flight. Well, that was odd enough. But B'en learned it was a male who rode that gold. Perhaps that would be for the best.

Brith chuckled into his mind, You would not like it if I paired with that queen? Because of her rider?

"Well yes, Brith, I don't know if I'd want to be paired up with another man. But... there is another flight. And it's an important one." He glanced at the ledge where his brilliantly mottled bronze lay sunbathing, "it's a Weyrleadership flight."

At that, the bronze lifted his head and tried to look casual. He was so interested in this idea that B'en laughed again. "All right, all right, I'll put in for a flight transfer. But understand, we'll be coming home when this is said and done."

You do not wish to be a weyrleader?

"Not permanently anyway, I'm not getting the impression that there must be such a man there," B'en read the information again. "I'm sure they could stand the eggs on the sands, a good hatching, and new blood. So... we'll go, and maybe we'll win! I'd stay there only long enough to help them settle things - I'm still just a records keeper, Brith, not a flight leader. You're a steady flier, I know you fly fast and sure. Can you imagine your offspring?"

The bronze's slinky shape superimposed over anything B'en thought, the idea of so many little long-legged, long tailed dragonets might have made him ill years before. But B'en's mind was so well suited to this now that he added a cheering crowd to the image in his mind. Of course, in the back of his own mind, the thought of leading a Weyr was a bit intimidating. He could always talk to S'xon about it, though.

Of course, the way that man acted he'd be chiding him for not wanting to compete with Benta's bronze for that male's gold... Maybe talking to S'xon wouldn't be the best course of action!

***
Status: Guild Born
Age: 20
Gender: male
Siblings: two out of wedlock siblings on their mother's side
Born: first
Legitimacy: illegitimate
Fostered due to: father died
Childhood Health: very sturdy
Adult Height: a bit short for an adult
Adult Build: very overweight, obese
Skin Tone: well tanned
Hair Color: platinum blond
Hair Style: frizzy
Hair Length: very long
Eye Color: forest green
Literacy Level: are literate to a good degree
Politeness Level: they are very polite and proper at all times
Focus: in every day life they are focused on their tasks,
---though their work is only a small fraction of their true obsession
They're average in looks
They'd rather keep things for themself, but if they're asked they'll share

Values and Goals
Values immensely: their appearance
Enjoys: the Open Sea
Very strong goal: locate something lost
Average fear: Dragons (gryphons, etc)
A wooden musical instrument is in their posession